.5 



VISITORS' GUIDE BOOK 

F 158 



TO 




INCLUDING THE POINTS OF HISTORICAL INTEREST, HOTELS, MUNICIPAL 
AND FEDERAL BUILDINGS, COLLEGES. LIBRARIES, MUSEUMS. HOSPITALS, 
ASYLUMS, PARKS, PLACES OF AMUSEMENT, CLUBS, COMMERCIAL AND MER- 
CANTILE ORGANIZATIONS, CHURCHES AND THE GREAT INDUSTRIAL PLANTS 



PUBLISHED BY 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

PHILADELPHIA, PENNA. 



VISITORS' GUIDE BOOK 

TO 

PHILADELPHIA 



Including the Points of Historical Interest, Hotels, 
Municipal and Federal Buildings, Colleges, Libra- 
ries, Museums, Hospitals, Asylums, Parks, Places of 
Amusement, Clubs, Commercial and Mercantile Organ- 
izations, Churches and the Great Industrial Plants 



BY 

CHARLES ]>;[ORRIS 

Author of "Historical Tales," "Half-Hours with 
American History," Etc. 



WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



PUBLISHED BY 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS 
PHILADELPHIA, PENNA. 



r/. 



COPYRIGHT, I916, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 





©CI,A4313'<;7 


JUL 19 1916 



PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS 

PHILADELPHIA, U. 8. A. 



«y> 



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CONTENTS 



PAGE 

1. Situation, Advantages and Colonial History of the Quaker City 1 

2. Philadelphia the Foster Parent of American Independence ... 11 

3. Philadelphia in the Nineteenth Century 23 

4. Historical Buildings and Sites in Philadelphia 28 

5. Relics of Old Colony Days 33 

6. The Philadelphia of To-day 41 

7. The Unrivalled Fairmount Park 50 

8. Centers of Municipal Activities 59 

9. Federal Institutions in Philadelphia 69 

10 Philadelphl^ as a College Town 77 

11. Medical Schools, Hospitals, and Asylums 87 

12. Libraries and Museums 98 

13. Academies and Institutions of Science and Art 104 

14. Places of Amusement in Philadelphia . . : 110 

15. The City's Central District 115 

16. Clubs, Hotels, Churches and Cemeteries 120 

17. Great Industrial Plants of Philadelphia 127 

18. Commercial and Mercantile Organizations 135 

19. The New Philadelphia in Progress 139 

20. The Metropolis of Pennsylvania 144 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 

City Hall from Northeast 4 

Fraxklin Statue at University 7 

Carpenters' Hall 12 

Independence Hall 13 

Liberty Bell 15 

United States Mint 20 

Betsy Ross House 22 

Penn's House 33 

Old Swedes' Church 35 

Christ Church Towards the x\ltar 37 

Reading Terminal 43 

Arnold's Mansion, Fairmount Park 51 

Cowboy Statue, Fairmount Park 55 

The Stone Age, Fairmount Park 55 

The Smith Memorial, Fairmount Park 55 

Lincoln Monument, Fairmount Park 56 

Grant's Cabin, Fairmount Park 56 

Basaltic Columns, Giants' Causeway, Ireland, Fairmount Park. . 56 

Japanese Pagoda, Fairmount Park 56 

Memorial Hall, Fairmount Park 57 

Horticultural Hall, Fairmount Park 57 

Statue of William Penn in Plaza of City Hall 60 

Custom House 70 

Post Office Building 71 

College Hall, University of Pennsylvania 78 

Engineering Building of University of Pennsylvania 78 

Dental Hall, University of Pennsylvania 78 

Law School, University of Pennsylvania 79 

Houston Hall, University of Pennsylvania 79 

Intersection of East and West Quadrangle, University of Penn- 
sylvania Dormitories 80 



vi ILLUSTRATIONS 

East Quadrangle, University of Pennsylvania Dormitories 80 

GiRARD College 82 

Medical Building, University of Pennsylvania 88 

Evans Dental Hall 88 

Gymnasium, University of Pennsylvania 88 

Veterinary Department of University of Pennsylvania 89 

Metropolitan Opera House Ill 

Masonic Temple 117 

Lu Lu Temple 117 

Union League 121 

Manufacturers' Club , 121 




HILt^ELPHIA 



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Situation, Advantages and Colonial 
History of the Quaker City. 

On the banks of the noble Delaware, ninety-six miles 
from the ocean, stands the famous Quaker City, third in 
the United States, ninth in the world, in population, and 
in certain respects ranking among the first of them all. 
Thus, in some of its industries it has no rival, while as a 
city of small and comfortable homes for its working people 
it stands above any other upon the earth. A dream of 
beauty in its environs, an unsurpassed mart of industry 
in its manufacturing section, and a realm of commodious 
homes in its residence districts, the people of Philadelphia 
have every reason to be proud of the Metropolis of 
Pennsylvania to which their active and intelligent labors 
have given rise. 

In the year 1681, when the English king, Charles II, 
sold to William Penn a great tract of land which he did 



2 SITUATION, ADVANTAGES, COLONIAL HISTORY 

not own, it presented a very different aspect. Forests 
covered its site, tenanted only by wandering Indians and 
a few Swedish farmers who had made small clearings. 
Only a few hundred settlers, Swedes, Dutch and British, 
then occupied this portion of the New World, and there 
was every opportunity to build up the great and free 
Quaker community which the new proprietor had in 
mind. Commissioners were sent by him to the Delaware 
to select a suitable site for the city which he proposed 
to build. They were told to examine Upland, a Swedish 
settlement farther down the stream, since known as 
Chester. But they selected for the proposed city what 
seemed to them a more available site, some miles to the 
north. Here a second navigable river, called Schuylkill 
by the Dutch, ran into the larger stream and seemed to 
double its opportunities for commerce. When, in the fol- 
lowing year, Penn sought his new domain in the good ship 
Welcome, he was highly pleased with the site chosen by 
his agents, it appearing to him admirably fitted by Nature 
for the upbuilding of a great city. 

Let us speak briefly of the reasons for selecting this 
special locality. Here a high bank bordered the river, 
from which the land ran back in a broad and nearly level 
stretch, its greatest height, in the section chosen, being 
not over forty-six feet above the river level. Bordered 
on the east by a broad and deep river, and on the west by 
a second and smaller but navigable stream, the waters 
of these rivers rapidly widening southward into a broad 
bay, the place seemed certainly well chosen for the devel- 
opment of a great commercial port. In the far time 
spreading out before him the founder may well have seen 
his infant settlement expanding into a noble center of 



SITUATION, ADVANTAGES, COLONIAL HISTORY 3 

trade, with ships from all parts of the world lying beside 
its wharves. He, of course, was unaware of an advan- 
tage of another kind, that of the great stores of iron and 
coal hidden in the hills to the north and west, and upon 
which the future manufacturing eminence of the city was 
to depend. 

The new city-founder doubtless thought that he was 
providing amply for the metropolis he had in view when 
he laid out a site from river to river two miles in extent, 
and one mile in width to north and south. It would have 
been like a dream of Aladdin to fancy a city like that 
which now exists, 129 square miles in area, 22 miles in 
extreme length and with a width varying from five to six 
miles. This is what the two square miles devised by 
Penn have become. Of course, much the greater part of 
this broad area is not closely covered with buildings, but 
its rural section is in a measure occupied by partly de- 
tached towns and villages, outlying parts of the great city 
near at hand and the rule of which extends over the whole 
region. 

The city laid out by Penn had streets crossing at right 
angles, based by him, it is said, on the model of ancient 
Babylon. Those which ran north and south were desig- 
nated by numbers, those east and west were given the 
names of forest trees, while a High Street (now Market 
Street) passed through the center from river to river, and 
a Broad Street through the center north and south. In 
the center, where these streets crossed, a square of ten acres 
was reserved, and squares of eight acres each in the four 
quarters of the city. Of these squares, the central one 
has vanished, being now^ occupied by the monumental 
City Hall. It may further be said that the right-angled 



4 SITUATION, ADVANTAGES, COLONIAL HISTORY 



plan adopted by Penn has proved a 
diagonal streets being now strongly 
remain from old roads, but 
of great advantage, and these 
sideration. Such was the plan 
outlined by the great Quaker 
which he gave the classical 
delphia, a Greek title signify- 
Brotherly Love." A name 
the same significance is that 
City," by which it is often 
title, given it by the i)hilo- 



defect, the necessity of 
felt. Several of these 
others would be 
are under con- 
of the city as 
f o u n d e r, t o 
name of Phila- 
ing "City of 
having m u c h 
of " Qu aker 
called. A third 
sophic Chinese 




CITY HALL FROM NORTHEAST 



statesman, Li Hung Chang, is "the City of a Million 
Smiles," significant of the welcome which Penn's metrop- 
olis gives to its visitors from all lands. It might, indeed. 



SITUATION, ADVANTAGES, COLONIAL HISTORY 5 

be further named "the City of Conventions," to judge 
from another use to which it is largely put. In no city are 
members of conventions and societies of all kinds more 
warmly welcomed or comfortably entertained. 

A brief statement of the colonial history of the city 
thus amply designated comes next in place. Penn was 
no ordinary man. In those days, when tyranny, religious 
bigotry, and cruel punishments for light crimes widely 
prevailed, he lost no time in giving his people powers of suf- 
frage and self-government, and complete religious liberty, 
and cut down the penalty of death for crime to murder 
and treason. At that time people were hanged in Eng- 
land for small thefts and various other minor offences. 

The new city grew with encouraging rapidity. In the 
fifty years before Penn's arrival few settlers had sought 
the Delaware. Now they came abundantly, and when 
Penn returned to England in 1684 there were about 3000 
people in the new city and 5000 in the province of Penn- 
sylvania. These settlers were not all English Friends, or 
Quakers, as these were derisively termed. Among them 
were many Germans, part of them Friends, others resem- 
bling the Friends in some of their religious views. These 
founded the village of Germantown, then a separate set- 
tlement, now included in Philadelphia. 

When William Penn again visited his city, fifteen years 
later, he was surprised and delighted by the evidences of 
growth and prosperity he saw on all sides. He had left a 
city of about 600 houses, he returned to one of more 
than 2000, and so full of new faces that he felt almost 
like a stranger. His recent life in England had been one 
of much trouble, and he now proposed to spend the re- 
mainder of his life in Pennsylvania. He had a fine coun- 



6 SITUATION, ADVANTAGES, COLONIAL HISTORY 

try seat built on a tract of land above Bristol, on the 
Delaware, calling it Pennsbury and proposing to live 
there in a style fitting his station. Yet he was obliged to 
return to London after a two years' stay, and was unable 
to visit America again. Before going he gave the prov- 
ince a new and ver^^ liberal code of laws, bringing his col- 
ony into better order than that into which it had fallen. 

New settlers had come in numbers, among them many 
Welsh, who settled in the country west of the Schuylkill, 
which became known as the Welsh Tract. Many more 
Germans had arrived, of various religious sects, these mak- 
ing their way into the country to the north, where their 
descendants still preserve their old language, oddly mixed 
with English words, and are known as "Pennsylvania 
Dutch." At a later date another class of settlers came, 
those known as Scotcji-Irish, who pushed to the western 
frontier ; a combative people, who were soon fighting alike 
with wild beasts and wild Indians. Persecution at home 
had had much to do with the coming of these various classes 
of settlers. To them were later added some of the equally 
persecuted French Huguenots, though few of these came 
to Pennsylvania. 

Meanwhile the city grew and prospered. A postal ser- 
vice was early established. Education was attended to, 
a Friends' Public Grammar School being founded in 1689. 
This still exists as the William Penn Charter School. 
Philadelphia was chartered as a city in 1701, shortly be- 
fore Penn's final return to England. In 1718, when Wil- 
liam Penn died, his colony, then thirty-six years of age, 
was in a very prosperous condition, immigrants coming 
in such numbers that Pennsylvania grew faster than any 
of the other colonies. Trade developed until the Delaware 



SITUATION, ADVANTAGES, COLONIAL HISTORY 7 



presented a busy scene, vessels coming and going in num- 
bers, while business was active, land cheap, and the streets 
vital with stirring life. 

In 1723 a Boston boy named Benjamin Franklin, then 
seventeen years of age, came to Philadelphia, tramping 



across New Jersey with 
shoulders, and a brain 
bly as he came, he was 
leading part in the his- 
of the country as well, 
with his doings as a 
here concerned. Buy- 
cessf ul paper, the Penn- 
1729, he soon made its 
Richard's Almanac, 
lished by him, became 
a wide celebrity. As 




a pack upon his 
full of ideas. Hum- 
destined to play a 
tory of the city, and 
It is, however, only 
citizen that we are 
ing out an unsuc- 
sylvania Gazette, in 
influence felt. "Poor 
subsequently pub- 
famous and gave him 
time went on he 



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FRANKLIN STATUE AT UNIVERSITY 



8 SITUATION, ADVANTAGES, COLONIAL HISTORY 

warmly fostered every project for the good of the city. 
Inducing his friends to bring their books to a central 
hall, where all might use them, he laid the foundation of 
the famous and prosperous Philadelphia Library. The 
American Philosophical Society, originated by him in 
1743, is the oldest scientific institution in America. Other 
great institutions projected or fostered by him were the 
University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Hospital. 
All of these notable institutions arose out of his varied 
enterprises for the good of his adopted city, the prog- 
ress of which he also helped in other ways. One of his 
useful acts was that in which he pleaded the cause of the 
people against the descendants of William Penn, whom 
he forced to permit the taxation of their estates on the 
same terms as those of other people. This fight for equal 
rights and obligations had gone on for many years and 
Franklin's success in it won him a fame that spread 
throughout the country. 

Philadelphia had long ceased to be distinctively a 
Quaker city. It had grown cosmopolitan in population, 
and the administration of municipal duties, long in the 
hands of the Friends, gradually passed from their con- 
trol. In 1756 they were defeated in the Assembly and 
never regained their power. They still, however, exerted 
an influence in city affairs. The city was meanwhile 
growing steadily in population and importance and in time 
became regarded as the leading American municipality. 
We know little about its details of population, but at the 
close of the Revolution it was credited with about 6,000 
houses and 40,000 inhabitants. It was then a century 
old, but had by no means as yet occupied the area laid 
out for it by its founder. In fact, it clung to the vicinity of 



SITUATION, ADVANTAGES, COLONIAL HISTORY 9 

the Delaware, extending along and near its banks, but 
not expanding rapidly westward. Broad Street still lay 
considerably beyond the built-up portion and Second 
Street was the chief retail business street. 

A city of the size of colonial Philadelphia would not be 
thought much of in our day, but at that period it was the 
largest city in America and its supremacy was widely 
acknowledged. Its citizens included various men of wide 
fame in science and literature. Benjamin Franklin, in 
the signal experiment by which he brought lightning from 
the clouds and proved it to be electricity, gave Philadel- 
phia a high standing in science, which was added to by 
the fine work done by David Rittenhouse in astronomy, 
the improvement of the quadrant by Thomas Godfrey, 
and the splendid achievements in botany of John Bar- 
tram, called by Linnaeus "the greatest natural botanist 
in the world. " In literature Franklin gave it a standing 
by his "Poor Richard's Almanac" and his "Autobiog- 
raphy," much the finest literary production of colonial 
America. Another man of literary note was the learned 
James Logan, who collected a library of about 3,000 vol- 
umes, a large private collection for that day. This col- 
lection is now a choice treasure of the Philadelphia Li- 
brary. The Revolutionary period called forth the efforts of 
several able writers, chief among them being Thomas 
Paine, whose "Common Sense" and "Crisis" were so 
admirably adapted to the spirit of the time. The only 
able colonial author outside of Philadelphia was Jona- 
than Edwards, who wrote solely on theological themes. 

That Philadelphia was then regarded as the American 
metropolis was shown in the action of the Albany Con- 
gress of 1754, held with the purpose of uniting the colonies 



10 SITUATION, ADVANTAGES, COLONIAL HISTORY 

in defence against the French. Franklin's plan for the 
union of the colonies, accepted by the convention, named 
Philadelphia for the capital of the proposed confederacy, 
proposing to make it the seat of a legislature elected by 
the colonies and a governor -general appointed by the 
king. The mutual jealousy of the British authorities and 
the colonial assemblies prevented the adoption of this 
plan, but it pointed forward to the choice of Philadelphia 
as the capital of the country, which it practically became 
in 1774, twenty years later. 



FOSTER PARENT OF INDEPENDENCE 11 



2. Philadelphia the Foster Parent of American 
Independence 

A convention, now known as the Stamp-Act Congress, 
which made an earnest appeal to the British king for 
the rights of the colonists, was held in New York in 1765. 
But when the continued oppressive acts of the British 
government gave rise to a spirit of rebellion in the Amer- 
ican colonies, and a Continental Congress was elected to 
deal with the critical situation, Philadelphia was chosen 
as the most fitting place for its sessions. This made the 
Quaker City the practical capital of colonial America, a 
position which it maintained, with a few intermissions, 
over colonies and nation, for a quarter of a century later. 

The place of meeting of this pioneer American Con- 
gress was in Carpenters' Hall, a structure built for the 
Carpenters' Company, an association of builders and 
architects, but made use of for various other purposes. 
This First Continental Congress continued in session 
from September 5 to October 26, 1774, and made an 
earnest appeal to the king to redress the wrongs of the 
colonies. Addresses were also sent to the people of Great 
Britain, Canada and the colonies, and a declaration of 
rights was issued, proposing to stop all trade with the 
mother country and put an end to the slave trade, then 
fostered for the benefit of British shippers. Before ad- 
journing, it provided for the election of another Congress, 
to meet May 10, 1775. 

The First Continental Congress met in a country at 
peace; the Second met in a country at war. The people 



n 



FOSTER PARENT OF INDEPENDENCE 



had been fired on by the British soldiers at Lexington, 
New England was in arms, and the garrison at Boston 
was under siege by the Minute Men of Massachusetts. 
The historical position of the new Congress was, therefore, 
very different from that of its predecessor. 

Meeting in ^i^Sffl^^n*^ the old Phila- 




CARPEXTERS HALL 



delphia State House, now famous as Independence Hall, 
it took a strong hold of the situation. While still rec- 
ognizing George HI as the "rightful sovereign" of the 
American colonies, it assumed control of the siege of Bos- 
ton, chose George Washington as commander-in-chief of 



FOSTER PARENT OF INDEPENDENCE 



13 




14 FOSTER PARENT OF INDEPENDENCE 

the army, ordered the issue of two miUion dollars in paper 
money, and took steps to enlist recruits. It was distinctly 
defiant of its "rightful sovereign." 

From that time forward until 1800 Philadelphia was 
the capital of the new country, except for the periods in 
which Congress temporarily left that city, Washington 
being inaugurated in 1789 in New York. In June, 1776, 
the Congress took decisive action; a committee being 
appointed to prepare a form of confederation for the 
States, by which title the colonies now became known. 
It went further than this. Richard Henry Lee, a delegate 
from Virginia, offered the ringing resolution "that these 
United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, Free and 
Independent States." This resolution was followed 
by the famous Declaration of Independence, drawn 
up by Thomas Jefferson, another Virginian, and adopted 
on July 2 by the vote of twelve colonies (New York not 
voting). Its final and formal adoption took place on 
July 4, when it was signed by John Hancock, President of 
Congress, in a bold hand which, he said, "the King of 
England can read without spectacles." With the adop- 
tion and signing of this document the United Colonies 
ceased to exist; the United States was born; Philadelphia 
had been raised to eminence as the foster parent of a 
new nation, one destined to rank among the greatest 
upon the earth. That the Liberty Bell was rung on that 
occasion, to advise the people of the signal act of Congress, 
remains a legend, but an agreeable one. There is no 
doubt that it was rung on July 8, when the Declaration 
was publicly read to the people in the State House yard, 
the old bell then "proclaiming liberty throughout all the 
land and to all the inhabitants thereof." 



FOSTER PARENT OF INDEPENDENCE 



15 



The next duty devolving upon Congress was that of 
preparing a form of government for the Confederated 
States. For this purpose a system of government entitled 
"Articles of Confederation" was drawn up, and submit- 




LIBERTY BELL 



ted to the new-born States for approval. It was grad- 
ually adopted, Maryland being the last to ratify it, Janu- 
ary 31, 1781. Until that time the Second Continental 
Congress continued in existence. On March 2, 1781, the 
first Congress under the Confederation met, Philadelphia 
being still recognized as the seat of government. 



16 FOSTER PARENT OF INDEPENDENCE 

Philadelphia played another interesting part in the 
Revolution, being taken by the British and occupied by 
them from September, 1777, to June, 1778, Congress has- 
tily adjourning, at first to Lancaster, then to York. Other 
hasty steps were taken, the Liberty Bell being removed to 
Allen town and hid under the church floor, the state archives 
sent to Easton, and the bells of the several churches car- 
ried away or sunk in the river. There are interesting 
incidents connected with the occupation. On October 4 
Washington attacked the British camp at German town, 
but lost the battle through the British vigorous defense 
of the famous Chew House and confusion due to fog. 
Valley Forge, where Washington afterwards established 
his winter quarters, has become the most famous historic 
place in the vicinity of Philadelphia, being now laid out 
as a park, with all its interesting features clearly indi- 
cated and appropriate buildings erected. 

Another event was that ridiculed by Francis Hopkin- 
son, the Revolutionary poet, in his well-known ballad, 
"The Battle of the Kegs. " A number of kegs, filled with 
explosives, were set afloat on the river and drifted down 
among the ships of the British fleet, which they were 
designed to destroy. Their character was discovered and 
they were briskly cannonaded, everything afloat being 
pounded with cannon balls. Nothing came of the inci- 
dent but an occasion for laughter at the expense of the 
invaders. 

In the following spring the departure of General Howe, 
who had been superseded by General Clinton, was made 
the occasion for a brilliant fete in the Quaker City, in- 
cluding a showy regatta, a gay street parade, an even- 
ing tournament, fireworks, dancing and feasting. In the 



FOSTER PARENT OF INDEPENDENCE 17 

midst of all this the revellers were startled by the brisk 
sound of distant cannon. 

"It is part of the festivities," said the officers to their 
partners in the dance. But it was more than that. A 
daring American cavalry oflScer, knowing what was going 
on within the city, had sought in the darkness the long 
redoubts reaching from river to river, painted them lib- 
erably with tar and set them on fire. The flames shot 
up fiercely, the British cannon were fired into the dark- 
ness, but the bold scouts escaped unharmed. Such was 
the warlike close of the famous Mischianza. 

The occupation of Philadelphia did not last much 
longer. Congress had, through the agency of Benjamin 
Franklin, made an alliance with France, and it was pos- 
sible that the British ships might at any time be locked 
up in the Delaware by a French fleet. Fearing this, the 
admirals and captains hastened away with their war ves- 
sels, and the army, left without support, quickly vacated 
the city, hotly pursued by Washington. Congress came 
back and all went on as before. 

In 1783 Congress again migrated from its native city. 
This was due to a meeting of soldiers at Lancaster, who 
marched to Philadelphia, declaring that, though the war 
was over, they had not been paid. They marched around 
the State House, where Congress was in session. The 
Congressmen, deeming this an intolerable insult, left the 
city in indignation, proceeding to Princeton. After the 
affair was over they refused to return, and Philadelphia 
ceased its function as a capital until 1790. 

But it did not lose its prominence, it becoming, in fact, 
a capital in a new and broader sense in 1787. The xArticles 
of Confederation, adopted at Philadelphia in 1776 and by 



18 FOSTER PARENT OF INDEPENDENCE 

the States in 1781, had proved unfit to serve the purposes 
of the country in times of peace. Congress, under them, 
had almost no power, and in 1787 a convention was called 
to see in what way they could be improved. This body, 
since known as the Constitutional Convention, and recog- 
nized as one of the greatest events in the history of the 
country, held its sessions in the old State House at Phila- 
delphia, Washington officiating as its president. Within 
it was born the famous Constitution of the United 
States, that great body of fundamental laws which shares 
the honor with the Declaration of Independence of 
being one of the ablest state papers in the history of the 
world, it forming the body of democratic political princi- 
ples under which the United States has grown to its 
present proud eminence. 

By July 4, 1788, ten states had ratified the action of the 
Convention and the Constitution had become the organic 
law of the land. This fact was celebrated by the great- 
est procession ever seen in Philadelphia up to that time, 
the "Good Ship Constitution" forming its leading feature. 
A centennial celebration of this event was held in Phila- 
delphia in 1887, when it was commemorated by a series 
of grand processions, lasting three days, including a grand 
industrial display and a magnificent military parade. 

We have not completed the story of Philadelphia's 
prominence in the historical evolution of our country. 
Washington, elected the first President of the United 
States, was inaugurated in New York, to which city the 
peripatetic Congress had made its way. But the claims 
of Philadelphia could not be ignored, and one of the first 
acts of the new Congress, elected under the Constitution, 
was to select it as the national capital, a proud position 



FOSTER PARENT OF INDEPENDENCE 19 

which it was to hold from 1790 to 1800, when a new capi- 
tal city, built on the banks of the Potomac, was to become 
the center of government. Thus during the last decade 
of the eighteenth century Penn's city was the governing 
seat and political center of the United States. It stood 
first in population, commerce, manufacture and finance 
and had also grown active in literature, various news- 
papers and magazines being published. 

The "White House" of that day, the residence of 
President Washington and the executive seat of gov- 
ernment, was the home of Robert Morris, the patriotic 
financier, on Market Street east of Sixth; while the ses- 
sions of Congress were held in Congress Hall, at the 
corner of Sixth and Chestnut Streets, the Senate occupy- 
ing the second, the House of Representatives the first 
floor. Independence Hall was then occupied by the State 
legislature, the building at the corner of Fifth and Chest- 
nut being used as the City Hall. Philadelphia thus had 
the honor of being the seat of oflSce, during his two terms, 
of President Washington, the greatest and most revered 
of Americans. He was succeeded in oflSce by John Adams, 
the final year of whose term was spent in the new capital 
on the banks of the Potomac. 

The solid foundation of our great republic was laid in 
this first American capital. In 1781 Robert Morris, Min- 
ister of Finance, established the Bank of North America, 
the first financial corporate institution in America, which 
is still in prosperous existence. In 1791 Alexander Hamil- 
ton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, founded the 
Bank of the United States, an institution which aided 
greatly in lifting the country out of the financial de- 



20 FOSTER P.IRENT OF INDEPENDENCE 




FOSTER PARENT OF INDEPENDENCE 21 

pressioii into which it had sunk. A United States Mint 
was also founded, and since that date the great bulk of 
the coin of the country has been made in Philadelphia. 
A notable enterprise of this period was the building of 
the Lancaster Turnpike, the first stone roadway in 
America and long the pride of the State. Of still higher 
importance was the discovery of the great deposit of 
anthracite coal in Pennsylvania, though many years 
were to pass before this fuel came into general use. 

In 1791 the University of Pennsylvania was founded 
by the combination of two earlier institutions. A few 
years earlier, in 1787, the College of Physicians had come 
into existence and begun its work of making Philadelphia 
the leading center of medical science. 

These are the chief claims of Philadelphia to historical 
eminence. They are not the only ones. The Quaker City 
had also the honor of being the seat of the earliest efforts 
at steam navigation and railway travel. Oliver Evans, 
an engineer of Philadelpln'a, was the first to try steam 
travel on land. He moved a steam carriage a short dis- 
tance as early as 178*2, and a more successful one in 1804. 
He lost all his money in efforts to build steam engines 
for use on Lancaster Pike. In 1804 he ran a paddle-wheel 
steamboat down the Schuylkill and up the Delaware to 
Beverly and returned. 

Steamboat travel, however, had an earlier origin in 
Philadelphia through the efforts of John Fitch, who was ex- 
perimenting on the Delaware at the same time that James 
Runisey was engaged in similar experiments in Virginia. 
Fitch's first steamboat was tried in 1786. By 1790 he 
had produced a boat that ran under steam power from 
Philadelphia to Burlington in three and a half hours. 



FOSTER PARENT OF INDEPENDENCE 



With this he made regular trips, at times running at 
seven miles an hour. But this boat, moved by a sort 
of oar or paddle motion, gave him so much trouble that 

he finally abandoned it in 
despair. Thus Fitch and 
Evans were making pio- 
neer efforts at steam 
travel on the Delaware 
years before Fulton suc- 
ceeded on the Hudson. 

There is another event 
which must be spoken of 
here, the origin of the 
American flag, the Stars 
and Stripes of American 
honor. Congress, then in 
session at Philadelphia, 
adopted this as the na- 
tional banner in June, 
1777, the first flag, bear- 
ing thirteen stars and 
thirteen stripes, to rep- 
resent the thirteen orig- 
inal states, being made by 
Betsy Ross, then living on Arch Street, Philadelphia. 
The new flag was first displayed in the harbor of Phila- 
delphia at the masthead of the Ranger, the ship of Paul 
Jones, who was to carry it to victory in the following year. 




BETSY ROSS HOUSE 



IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 23 



3. Philadelphia in the Nineteenth Century. 

In the preceding sections the history of Philadelphia 
has been brought down to the year 1800, the year in 
which it lost its political prominence through the removal 
of the United States capital to Washington, the new city 
on the Potomac. It had also ceased to be the State 
capital in favor of a more central position, Lancaster 
being made the capital in 1799 and Harrisburg in 1810. 
But it remained the industrial, commercial and literary 
center of the country for a longer period. 

With a population of 70,000 in 1800, it had definitely 
entered upon that career of manufacturing activity for 
which it has since continued famous. The position of 
the city in the close vicinity of the world's chief supply 
of anthracite coal, with an abundance of iron within 
easy reach, gave it special advantages, which were utilized 
in the development of its array of great workshops, some 
of them destined to become the greatest in the world. 
Commerce was also active, Philadelphia being at that 
time America's leading center of trade. In fact, not only 
before the Revolution, but down to the period of the 
Civil W'ar, this city had a flourishing commerce, its many 
clipper ships, barges and brigs dealing largely with all 
parts of the world, especially with the West Indies, and 
to an important extent with the East Indies. Many 
enterprising merchants engaged in this commerce, among 
whom may be specially named Stephen Girard, famous 
for his wealth and enterprise. Active efforts to regain a 
fair portion of this trade are now in operation, including 
the deepening of the Delaware and the building of an 



M IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 

ample array of wharves and docks. The Delaware and 
Schuylkill, including the Camden side of the former, have 
the extensive water frontage of thirty-eight miles, great 
part of which is still unutilized. The city has at present 
steamship service to all the leading ports of Europe and 
those of the south Atlantic, and the years to come will 
be sure to see a large increase in this traffic. 

The Athens of America. — While thus active in busi- 
ness, Philadelphia maintained its position as the leading 
seat of literature in America, some of its writers proudly 
naming it "The Athens of America." Though the char- 
acter of the literature produced did not warrant this boast, 
Philadelphia was the home of the ablest colonial and later 
writers. Charles Brockden Brown, the first American novel- 
ist, was a Philadelphian, of Quaker descent, and for years 
a leading figure in American literature. Joseph Dennie, 
founder in 1801 of the "Portfolio," also became widely known, 
and other writers of note kept up the reputation which 
the city had won in earlier years. Various magazines 
succeeded those of colonial date, the voluminous "Rees's 
Cyclopedia" was reprinted by an enterprising Philadelphia 
publisher, and Wilson brought out in 1808 the first volume 
of his famous "Ornithology," illustrated with pictures 
drawn by him with great care and exactness. Audubon, 
who resided in the vicinity of Philadelphia, began his 
first journej^s for the study of birds in 1810. 

Financially Penn's city had reason to claim a national 
record. One of its citizens, Robert Morris, was the chief 
financier of the Revolution and did noble work in aid of 
Washington's famishing armies. In the war of 1812-14 
another Philadelphian, Stephen Girard, came to the aid 
of the impoverished government, lending it large sums 



IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 25 

on favorable terms. Finally, in the Civil War period, 
Jay Cooke, a third Philadelphia financier, became the fiscal 
agent of the government in placing its war loans. 

Philadelphia was slow in occupying the narrow limits laid 
out by Penn, its people finding it to their advantage to 
keep near the Delaware. But there grew up around it a 
number of prosperous suburbs, sufficient in population to 
add largely to its citizenship. These l)ore the various 
names of Southwark, Moyamensing, Spring Garden, 
Northern Liberties, Kensington, North Penn and Rich- 
mond, while beyond the Schuylkill were the boroughs of 
West Philadelphia and Belmont. At a greater distance 
were Germantown and Manayunk. The consolidation of 
these with the city began in 1850, when its population 
was about 360,000. This work was completed in 1854, 
the city limits being extended to embrace the entire 
county. Since that date the growth has been rapid and 
continuous, until the population has now mounted to 
about one and three-quarter millions. Near to and 
largely dependent upon the city, practically forming a 
portion of it, are suburban towns of many additional 
thousands of population. In fact, the cities and boroughs 
of which Philadelphia may claim to be the metropolitan 
center have a further population of 900,000. 

Could William Penn look down upon his city to-day 
he would perceive a sea of buildings, spreading over many 
square miles. Instead of a wilderness of trees he would 
see a wilderness of dwellings, crowded with a busy popu- 
lation, together with great industrial, financial, mercan- 
tile, and other edifices, a center of civic life ranking as the 
third in the United States and the ninth in the world, and 
one which, in some of its activities, claims rank as the first. 



26 IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 

It is a city which has justly won the title of "The City of 
Homes," since it has within its limits more houses occu- 
pied by their owners than any other city in the world. 
Its number of separate residences is stated as more than 
350,000, while New York has fewer than 150,000 one- 
family houses. These include broad expanses of neat 
and comfortable two-story houses, provided with con- 
veniences formerly found only in the mansions of the 
wealthy. Among these the bath-room is an essential 
feature from the point of view of high civilization. Of 
these the city claims more than 350,000, while twenty 
public bathing places help to serve the needs of the poorer 
sections. To the number of buildings mentioned as 
dwellings may be added some 50,000 built for other pur- 
poses, Philadelphia having about 400,000 separate build- 
ings, more than any other city in the United States. 

Coming to the other feature in which it has gained 
eminence, those of its special industries, it may be said 
that in textile manufacture Philadelphia is to-day the 
leading city in the world. It has the largest lace factory 
and some of the largest carpet factories, while it holds 
first rank in knit goods, rugs, and felt hats. The Baldwin 
locomotive works, with a capacity for eight locomotives 
a day, has no rival in the world. Since 1710 Penn's city 
has led in American shipbuilding, and the two great ship- 
yards of its port, Cramp's in Kensington and the New 
Y^ork Shipbuilding Company in Gloucester, have given 
the Delaware a just claim to the title of "The Clyde of 
America." Other lines of industry in which this city 
stands pre-eminent are the making of street cars, the 
manufacture of oil-cloth, linoleum, saws, sporting and 
athletic goods, upholstery goods and various other arti- 



IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 27 

cles. It holds second place in women's clothing, milli- 
nery, paper goods, woollen goods, and sugar refining. In 
addition it covers every field of metal work, useful and 
ornamental, it has no superior in fine furniture, it yields 
one-third of the umbrellas and parasols of the country, 
and it has long been active in publication, while its com- 
mercial printing trade occupies 250 plants, with an annual 
output of $10,G00,000. Such is Philadelphia industrially, 
one of the leading manufacturing cities of the world, and 
in many fields of industry the leading city in America. 
"The largest industrial city in America" it was called 
by the French Trade Commission, on its visit here in 
December, 1915,with a view of reopening trade after the war. 



28 HISTORICAL BUILDINGS AND SITES 

4. Historical Buildings and Sites in Philadelphia. 

The famous edifices in this country having to do with 
the struggle for independence and the origin of the United 
States as a nation are chiefly confined to two cities, Boston 
and Philadelphia. Those in Boston are related to the 
events preceding the outbreak of the Revolution. Those 
concerned with the birth and early growth of the great 
republic are confined to Philadelphia. A descriptive sketch 
of these time-honored historic buildings is here in place. 

Independence Hall. — Chief among these relics of his- 
tory is noble old Independence Hall, a fine example of 
colonial arcliitecture, standing on Chestnut Street, between 
Fifth and Sixth Streets, where it has long been the Mecca 
of patriotic Americans. This most famous of American edi- 
fices was built as a State House for the province of Phila- 
delphia. The Assembly had previously met in Quaker 
meeting houses and private residences and felt the need 
of a home of its own. Work was begun upon this well- 
designed structure in 173^2 and it was completed in 1741, 
some finishing touches being given in 1745. In 1750 a 
staircase was ordered to be added and also a belfry in 
which a bell might be hung. This arose from the fact 
that it had been the custom to call the members together 
by ringing a bell, those who failed to appear within half 
an hour being fined " a tenpenny bit." This tocsin call could 
readily be heard throughout the Philadelphia of that day. 

The Liberty Bell. — A bell for this purpose, one fitting 
the dignified structure in which it was to hang, was ordered 
from London, to bear the significant inscription: "Proclaim 
liberty throughout all the land, to all the inhabitants 
thereof." This seems prophetic in view of the fact that 



HISTORICAL BUILDINGS AND SITES 29 

this is what the bell did in 1776, when it rang out the tidings 
that a ''Declaration of Independence" had been passed by 
the Continental Congress and clanged defiance to King 
George and his hordes. To this it owes its title of "Liberty 
Bell," and this fact has made it the most loved and hon- 
ored of American historical treasures. Though its abiding 
place is in Independence Hall, it has on several special 
occasions been sent throughout the country to be seen 
and honored by those less favored than the citizens of 
Philadelphia. The last of these occasions was its visit 
to the San Francisco Panama Exi)osition of 1915, in 
which journey it is said to have been warmly greeted 
by 20,000,000 American citizens. No other country pos- 
sesses so highly venerated a relic as this noble old bell, 
whose vibrant tongue first sent forth the message of 
American liberty. 

The old bell has had its history. Received from Eng- 
land in 1752, its tone proved unsatisfactory and it was 
recast in Philadelphia in 1753. Thus in every respect 
it is of Philadelphia origin. Its voice was finally heard 
in 1835, at the time of the funeral of Chief Justice John 
Marshall, when the old bell cracked and became dumb 
forever. The increase in this crack has caused much 
apprehension as to its safety, and it may possibly have 
made its last journey around the country. 

Independence Hall, in the corridor of w^hich the Liberty 
Bell now rests in a suitable glass case, has been recently 
restored, and will hereafter be kept in its original state. 
The fine assembly room in which sat the Continental 
Congress when the Declaration was passed and signed 
has been fitted up with much of its old furniture of chairs 
and desks, while portraits of most of the members hang 



30 HISTORICAL BUILDINGS AND SITES 

upon its walls. On the second floor is also a large collec- 
tion of historical portraits, together with Benjamin West's 
picture of "Penn's Treaty with the Indians." The treaty 
elm, under whose boughs tradition placed this treaty, fell 
in 1810, and a stone monument now marks the spot, the 
locality having been converted into a public square. 

Congress Hall. — Flanking Independence Hall, and 
connected with it by a series of public offices — now used 
as museums of colonial and Revolutionary relics — are two 
buildings, the old City Hall at the corner of Fifth Street, 
and at the corner of Sixth Street the edifice known as 
Congress Hall, the Capitol of the United States from 
1790 to 1800. This handsome colonial edifice has recently 
been restored to its original condition, that which it pos- 
sessed when Washington was inaugurated there in 1793 
and John Adams in 1797. These events took place in 
the room of the House of Representatives. The struct- 
ures named, so full of significance to American citizens, 
are open to visitors, and no patriotic American visits 
Philadelphia without treading their sacred halls and pay- 
ing due reverence to the venerated Liberty Bell. Back 
of this series of buildings lies Independence Square, attrac- 
tive for flowers and trees, and for its memories of historic 
events. Its one work of art is a statue of Commodore John 
Barry, famous for a daring naval feat in Delaware Bay 
when the British were in possession of Philadelphia in 1778. 

Carpenters' Hall. — From the south side of Chestnut 
Street, midway between Third and Fourth, an open court 
yields a glimpse of a small and plain brick building which 
stands far back from the street. This quaint edifice is 
of high historical renown, it being that famous Carpenters' 
Hall in which in 1774 the First Continental Congress 



HISTORICAL BUILDINGS AND SITES 31 

held its sessions, and in which the United States had its 
foundation timbers laid. 

Originally built by the Carpenters' Company for society 
uses, the walls of this building heard the famous "First 
prayer in Congress," by Parson Duche, and here, as one 
inscription on its wall testifies, "Henry, Hancock and 
Adams inspired the delegates of the Colonies with Nerve 
and Sinew for the Toils of War." Here also, in the fol- 
lowing spring, the Pennsylvania Assembly elected Benja- 
min Franklin a delegate to the Second Continental Con- 
gress. Carpenters' Hall was afterwards used as a hospital 
for sick soldiers, and has also been occupied by the Phila- 
delphia Library, the Bank of Pennsylvania, and the Land 
Office of the United States. In a more recent period it 
was used for less important purposes and finally degen- 
erated into an auction room. Then the Carpenters' Com- 
pany became once more patriotic, restored the building 
to its original state, and now keeps it as a sacred relic, 
its walls being hung with interesting mementos of "the 
times that tried men's souls." 

Of the house in which Jefferson wrote the famous 
Declaration of Independence only the site remains, and 
of this we are not quite sure, though a tablet on the build- 
ing on the southwest corner of Seventh and Market Streets 
designates this as the locality. Not faraway from this spot 
is another historic site of absorbing interest, the famous 
Betsy Ross house. 

Betsy Ross House. — The United States flag, the ban- 
ner of the Stars and Stripes, dear to every American 
patriot, was adopted in its present form by Congress in 
June, 1777, after several other flags had been used. Tra- 
dition tells us that a committee from Congress, with 



S^2 HISTORICAL BUILDINGS AND SITES 

whom was Washington, then in Philadelphia, called at the 
humble residence No. 229 Arch Street, where Elizabeth 
Ross ("Betsy Ross") then kept an upholstery shop, and 
asked her to make a sample flag, with thirteen red and 
white stripes and with a blue field containing thirteen 
white stars. She quickly saw what was wanted and was 
not long in constructing the first national flag of the new 
republic. Of this story we cannot be quite sure, but it 
is widely accepted, and the Betsy Ross house is one of 
the highly venerated historic shrines of Philadelphia, 
especially for its youthful patriots. 

Franklin's Grave. — Near by, in Christ Church ceme- 
tery, is another historic shrine, the grave of Benjamin 
Franklin. This may be seen at the corner of Fifth and 
Arch Streets, a part of the wall having been removed 
and replaced by an open railing in order that passers-by 
may see the plain, flat slab that marks the resting-place 
of Philadelphia's most distinguished citizen. On the oppo- 
site corner stands the old meeting house of the Free 
Quakers (the "Fighting Quakers" of the Revolution). 
This handsome colonial structure, subsequently occupied 
by the Apprentices' Library, organized in 1820, has 
recently been converted into a business house, though 
still retaining its old architectural aspect. 

First City Troop. — Another Philadelphia institution 
of Revolutionary origin, though one of different aspect, is 
the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry, the oldest mili- 
tary body in the United States, organized in November, 
1774, for resistance to Great Britain. Its armory, on 21st 
Street below Market, has the appearance in its front of a me- 
diaeval fortress, and the troop is a necessary and spectac- 
ular feature of any historical celebration in Philadelphia. 



RELICS OF OLD COLONY DAYS 



33 



5. Relics of Old Colony Days. 

Philadelphia has its historic buildings of an earHer date 
than those associated with the origin of the repubhc of 
the United States, these coming down to us from the time 




PENN S HOUSE 



when it was really a "Quaker City." While of less interest 
than those mentioned, these are well worthy of notice. 

William Penn House. — In- 1682-83, during Penn's 
first visit to his American province, he had a house built 



34 RELICS OF OLD COLONY DAYS ] 

for himself which he afterwards made over to his daughter \ 
Letitia. Her name was later given to the narrow street on 
which it stood. This, the first brick building in Phila- j 
delphia, is the oldest edifice now standing in Pennsyl- i 
vania. A humble dwelling, with few rooms and those of " 
moderate size, Penn used it as a home, and there appears ; 
to have held the sessions of his Council, so that it may be > 
considered the first state house of the colony. This body, j 
sitting as a court, with William Penn as judge, is said to \ 
have held in this mansion the first and only trial for witch- l 
craft in Pennsylvania, the inquiry ending in the acquittal \ 
of the woman accused. The building has been removed ' 
to a suitable site in Fair mount Park, near its Girard Ave- ; 
nue entrance, where it has numerous visitors, and is likely \ 
to stand for centuries as a birthday memento of the prov- j 
ince of Pennsylvania. J 

Penn Charter School. — Second in interest to the i 
Penn Mansion is the Friends' Public Grammar School, ; 
chartered in 1689. Though its original building long '> 
since vanished, this institution still survives, under the ! 
name of the William Penn Charter School, on Twelfth 
Street, south of Market. For more than sixty years it : 
was the only seat of public education in Pennsylvania, '■. 
and now has the celebrity of being the oldest existing \ 
chartered school in the United States, and also the largest ■■ 
boys' day-school of its class in the country. 

Bartram House and Garden. — Another highh^ inter- j 
esting locality, dating back for nearly two centuries, is ' 
the famous Bartram's Garden, located on high ground ; 
west of the Schuylkill, in the vicinity of the old-time ^ 
Gray's Ferry. Here John Bartram, a famous botanist, ^ 
fixed his home in 1731, and built, largely with his owti I 



RELICS OF OLD COLONY DAYS 



35 



hands, a quaint stone mansion, still standing, the garden 
surrounding it being now kept as one of the city parks. 
This he made the most widely -known botanic garden in 
America. 

His journeys in search of rare plants took him from the 
Great Lakes to Florida, and this w^ork was ably kept up 




OLD SWEDES CHURCH 



by his son, William Bartram. His garden is very rich 
in foreign and American trees and shrubs, and his repu- 
tation spread so widely that botanists from distant parts 
of the world visited the famous American tree-lover in his 
celebrated garden. 

Old Swedes' Church. — Philadelphia has a historic site 
dating back beyond the Penn era, and belonging to that 
of the Swedes. These had built themselves a church on 



36 RELICS OF OLD COLONY DAYS 

Tinicum Island as early as 1646. Another place of wor- 
ship was built at Wicaco (South Philadelphia) about 1669 
or later. This was a log structure, fitted alike for fort 
or church. It was replaced in 1700 by the venerable 
brick edifice known as Old Swedes' Church (Gloria Dei), 
on what is now Swanson Street, below Christian. Here 
services are still held. The old church stands in a ceme- 
tery containing gravestones with inscriptions dating from 
1700, but now mostly illegible. The oldest that can 
be read is that of Peter Sandel, died 1708. Much the 
most notable is that of Alexander Wilson, the celebrated 
ornithologist, who died in 1813. . 

Trinity Church. — Next in antiquity to Old Swedes' 
Church is the ancient Trinity Church (EpiscopaHan), two 
miles northwest of Frankford, on the Oxford Road. The 
present edifice, built of brick, dates from 1711. 

Arch Street Friends' Meeting. — This, the seat of the 
oldest religious society in the city with the exception 
of that first mentioned, was originally the graveyard of 
the Friends' Meeting, which was held at Second and Market 
until 1804, when the present Meeting House was built 
in the old burying ground. It is at present little used, 
though the Yearly Meeting of the Society is held there. 
There are Friends' Meeting Houses at several other loca- 
tions in the city, also schools and a library building, all in 
the plain but substantial architectural character suited to 
the tenets of this religious body. 

Christ Church. — The religious liberty proclaimed by 
William Penn was quickly taken advantage of b}^ other 
sects, and many members of the Established Church of 
England made their homes in this city. To them are 
due the historic Christ Church, first erected in 1695, and 



RELICS OF OLD COLONY DAYS 



37 



replaced in 17^7-31 by the brick structure now on its 
site, on Second Street above Market. This unique church 
building, the oldest in the cit}^ after Swedes' and Trinit}^ 
Churches, is sixty feet wide by ninety feet in length, its 
brick tower being surmounted by a wooden steeple 190 
feet high. Here the British officers attended services when 




CHRIST CHURCH TOWARDS THE ALTAR 



Philadelphia was in their hands, and Washington did the 
same when President of the ITnited States. The j^ew occu- 
pied by him is still proudly pointed out. 

Several other churches have come dovMi from colonial 
days, among them the Protestant Episcopal St. Peter's, 
built 1758-61, at Third and Pine Streets, and St. Paul's 
(now modernized), on Third Street below Walnut. On 



38 RELICS OF OLD COLONY DAYS 

Fourth Street, near by, is St. Mary's (Roman Catholic), 
built in 1763, and near St. Peter's is the "Old Pine Street 
Church" (Presbyterian), opened for worship in 1768. 

Pennsylvania Hospital. — The need of a public hos- 
pital in Philadelphia was first broached by Dr. Thomas 
Bond about 1750. As usual in those days, the aid of 
Benjamin Franklin was sought, and under his efficient 
assistance the work of building soon began. By 1756 
the buildings were ready for use, the Pennsylvania Hos- 
pital, the first in America, thus coming into existence. 
This institution — not completed on the lines of its original 
plan until 1800 — occupies the large area bounded by 
Eighth, Ninth, Spruce and Pine Streets. This lot at 
that time was far out of towii, but was eventually taken 
in and greatly overrun by the growing city. The insti- 
tution is, and always has been, the great "accident hos- 
pital" of Philadelphia. The proper care of the insane 
was also among its objects, these being cared for in the 
hospital at Eighth and Pine until 1841, when they were 
removed to the location in West Philadelphia long known 
as Kirkbride's Hospital for the Insane. The first clinical 
lectures on medicine and surgery were given in the Penn- 
sylvania Hospital, and these have been continued until the 
present time. A splendid medical library has also been 
collected. 

Philadelphia a Medical Center. — Philadelphia has 
long been pre-eminent among American cities as a center 
of medical education, the first school for this purpose 
being formed there in 1765 as part of "The College, 
Academy and Charitable School of Philadelphia," estab- 
lished ten years earlier. This school grew rapidly in 
reputation, soon being classed with the leading medical 



RELICS OF OLD COLONY DAYS 39 

schools of Europe, its professors being men of high abihty 
in their field of science. The parent institution in time 
developed into the "University of Pennsylvania," of 
which the medical school has continued one of the lead- 
ing features. As regards the general development of 
medical science and study in Philadelphia, it will be dealt 
with in a later section. 

Science and Art. — Philadelphia in its early days 
gained eminence in other fields of science than medicine. 
We have spoken of the scientific work of Franklin, Rit- 
tenhouse and Godfrey, and of the botanical ability of 
the Bartrams, father and son. Wilson and Audubon, 
among the most famous of ornithologists, made Phila- 
delphia a center of their labors in the bird world, the 
former, as stated, finding a final resting-place in the 
graveyard of Old Swedes' Church. There also dwelt 
Dr. Benjamin Rush, who won the title of "The Father of 
American Medicine." In art may be named the well- 
known Benjamin West, whose birthplace is still to be 
seen near Swarthmore College, in the vicinity of the 
city. Of his famous paintings, "Penn's Treaty with the 
Indians" hangs in Independence Hall, "Death on the 
Pale Horse" in the Academy of the Fine Arts, and 
"Christ Healing the Sick" in the Pennsylvania Hospital. 

Shall we close this chapter by naming some others of 
the first things in Philadelphia .^^ The Philadelphia 
Library, founded by Franklin in 1731, is the oldest sub- 
scription library in the country. The first scientific insti- 
tution in the country is the American Philosophical 
Society, founded by Franklin in 1743. The first paper 
mill was built on the banks of the Wissahickon, near 
GeriTiantown, in 1696. The first fire-insurance company 



40 RELICS OF OLD COLONY DAYS 

in America was opened at Philadelphia in 1721. The 
first fire company was organized by Franklin in 1738. 
In 1741 Franklin established the first literary journal in 
the colonies, The General Magazine and Historical Chron- 
icle. In this city was opened the first law school and the 
first medical school in the country, and here was made 
the first piano, was built the first type foundry, and 
was established the first water-works system in the coun- 
try. The first steam travel on land was performed by 
Oliver Evans in Philadelphia streets, and the first on 
water, with the exception of that of James Rumsey, by 
John Fitch on Philadelphia waters. The oldest business 
house in America, Francis Perot Sons' Malting Company, 
is still in existence in Philadelphia, and still possesses the 
first stationary engine built in this country. The Bank 
of North America is the oldest corporate banking insti- 
tution on the American continent. Here also were the 
first mint, the first water works, the first Sunday-School 
Association and various other first things that might be 
mentioned. 



THE PHILADELPHIA OF TO-DAY 41 



6. The Philadelphia of To-day. 

The city of Penn has ceased to be, in its general aspect, 
a Quaker city. Once known for its uniform sameness, 
the prim succession of its long rows of similar dwellings, 
with red-brick fronts and white-marble steps and copings, 
it is now as varied in architecture as the most exacting 
critic could reasonably demand. In the old, staid resi- 
dence streets much of the former characteristic prevails, 
but this is a comfortable, homelike aspect, and in its 
newer districts it has graduated from its old-time drab 
Quakerism and put on the most modern of architectural 
robes. This refers to its residence district. Its central 
business area is an array of enormous department stores 
and sky-scraping office-buildings, hotels, apartment houses 
and other upreaching or outspreading edifices. In the 
recently built-up region of the city there are numerous 
dwellings of artistically varied architecture, equalling in 
beauty and grace those to be found in any of the world's 
cities. In the older suburbs, such as Germantown and 
Chestnut Hill, may be seen beautiful ancestral homes 
instinct with the spirit of an older era, some of the finest 
colonial doorways in the country being here visible. 

Leaving the immediate limits of the city and seeking 
its outspreading suburbs to the north, west and south, we 
find ourselves in a garden of beauty and charm, forming 
what with good warrant have been termed "the most 
beautiful suburbs in America." Crossing the city line 
in any direction, northward along the Reading and Penn- 
sylvania railroads, westward along the Pennsylvania 
"Main Line," and southward towards Chester and Wil- 



42 THE PHILADELPHIA OF TO-DAY 

mington, we find ourselves in a succession of exquisite 
suburban scenes, embracing many magnificent country 
estates and rural villages as attractive as beautiful dwell- 
ings, velvety lawns, green shrubbery, profuse floral growth 
and graceful architectural designs could well make them. 
A summer jaunt through these outlying settlements will 
go far to convince any one that Philadelphia bears the 
palm for the grace and charm of suburban attractiveness. 

While these suburbs lie beyond the city limits, the 
city is their business and social center, a constant stream 
of travel passing in and out daily, alike in the rapid 
succession of trains and the steady line of motor cars 
that crowd the intervening roads morning and evening. 
This abundant outlying section is justly a portion of 
the city, since it is dependent upon it for existence and 
very largely inhabited by persons whose daily duties 
bring them within the city streets. 

As regards railroad service, above spoken of, Phila- 
delphia is admirably supplied. Of the three roads that 
enter the city, two of them, the Pennsylvania and Read- 
ing, penetrate it to its very heart. The Broad Street 
Station of the Pennsylvania fronts directly upon the 
location of the Center Square which William Penn set 
aside as the hub of his new city, and the Market Street 
Station of the Reading lies but a short distance away. 
The Baltimore and Ohio Station is at the Schuylkill 
extremity of the original city planned by Penn. 

As for means of getting about within the city limits, 
the admirable system of electric cars ofters excellent 
opportunities, no city being better supplied in this par- 
ticular. There is scarcely one of the wider streets of 
the city without its car line, running north, south, east 



THE PHILADELPHIA OE TO-DAY 



43 



or west, with a mystifying abundance that appears dif- 
ficult to unravel. The total length of trolley lines in 
the city is about 600 miles. The system is easy to com- 
prehend and one soon gets to depend on the number 
given each separate line, without troubling about its 
^^ further directions. In the way of 
real "rapid transit," 
the Market Street 
Subway and Elevated 
lines are of 
great 




HEADING TEKMIXAL 



service, and carry their multitudes daily. At the west- 
ward extremity of the Elevated, at 69th Street, the trolley 
service leaves the city and plunges into the country, 
spreading out like the fingers of a hand into a number 
of distinct lines, giving service to West Chester, to several 



44 THE PHILADELPHIA OF TO-DAY 

points on the Main Line, and to Allentown by way of 
Norristown. Other out-of-town service is provided to 
Chester, Media, Wilmington, Doylestown, Easton, and 
more distant localities. Counting with these varied routes 
of rail travel the fast-growing multitudes of automobiles 
in daily use, it will appear that Philadelphia is amply 
provided for in the necessary function of getting about. 
Thus much for passenger travel. For freight carriage 
ample facilities have been and are being provided. A net- 
work of freight tracks crosses the city towards the wharves, 
including an elevated one of the Pennsylvania Railroad 
Company. This company has 56 freight stations in Phila- 
delphia and Camden, many of them on the river front, 
along w4iich front a belt line for the transfer of freight 
extends to Port Richmond. At the latter port the Reading 
Railway Company has shipping piers and coal sheds a 
half mile in length. It should further be said that plans 
are now in preparation for doing away with all railroad 
crossings on grade in Philadelphia, and for building a 
complete modern series of wharves along the southern 
section of the river front, with accommodations for the 
largest ships. The city is, in fact, to be made a first- 
class fresh-water port, with every facility for freight and 
passenger carriage. There are still fourteen miles of 
unoccupied tide-water front, and hundreds of acres of 
bordering lands along the tw^o rivers fitted for building- 
great factories, from which goods could be placed directly 
on shipboard. In addition to the modern piers now under 
process of building, Delaware Avenue is being widened and 
bulkheaded in concrete and the Delaware being deepened, 
the ultimate depth to be 35 feet. The plan now being 
w^orked out w^ill utilize over 1,000 acres and provide 



THE PHILADELPHIA OF TO-DAY 45 

wharfage for one hundred and thirty-one 600-foot ships. 

The Delaware now bears a large traffic, and is well 
provided with light-houses and other aids to safe navi- 
gation, also with large and powerful ice-boats, capable of 
keeping the channel open in the severest winter weather 
likely to occur in its latitude. 

To those who seek the city for other purposes than 
those of commerce and who are not specially concerned 
in the art of getting about, but are in the city with the 
purpose of making acquaintance with its features of in- 
ternal interest, a description of its makeup and layout 
will prove desirable. The visitor finds little difficulty in 
learning the simple plan of the city and hence in reach- 
ing any desired point. It is not easy to get lost here, 
as in New York or Boston. The streets cross each other 
at right angles, those running north and south being 
known by numbers, beginning at First or Front Street, 
on the Delaware side. Those running east and west 
were originally given the names of forest trees. This 
system, however, has not been continued beyond the 
boundaries of the old city plan, and some of those within 
these limits have lost their original names. Thus the 
old Mulberry and Sassafras streets now bear the more 
prosaic but more convenient names of Arch and Race 
Streets. Market Street (originally High Street) is re- 
garded as the central dividing line of the city, and from 
this the house numbers begin as units north and south. 
The convenient system has been adopted of starting with 
a new hundred at the beginning of every block, so that 
it is easy to know from the house numbers in every 
block how^ far it is north or south of Market Street. 
Going westward the same system has been adopted, though 



46 THE PHILADELPHIA OF TO-DAY 

without any dividing line. Thus 1800 Chestnut Street sig- 
nifies the house on the southwest corner of Eighteenth and 
Chestnut, the even numbers being on the south, the odd 
ones on the north, side. The blocks, or squares, do not 
vary much in lejigth, though those running north and south 
are the longer, there being ten or more squares to the mile 
in the case of streets running east and west, eight or nine in 
that of streets running north and south. Between these 
main are many intermediate streets. Of paved streets 
there are over 1,200 miles in the city; of macadamized 
streets (in the rural section) about 350 miles. 

While these streets are, as a rule, regular in direction, 
running to the prime points of the compass, this is not 
wholly the case, since a number of diagonal streets, 
formerly country highways, aid in supplying cross way 
passages. These include the Ridge Road, Germantown 
Avenue and Frankford Avenue, heading northwestward; 
Passyunk Avenue, heading southwestward, and in West 
Philadelphia, Lancaster Avenue (the old Lancaster Turn- 
pike) and Woodland Avenue (the old stage highway 
leading southward to Baltimore and Washington). Sug- 
gestions have been made of adding to these four others, 
branching out like rays from the City Hall, and one of 
these has been partly completed, the Fairmount Park- 
way, to be later described. 

In addition to these plans for costly short cuts through 
the city, several large and handsome boulevards have 
been projected, including the Northeast Boulevard, in 
considerable part completed; the South Broad Street 
Boulevard, also under process of construction; the Penny- 
pack and Cobb's Creek boulevards. As to open breath- 
ing spots, small squares, grass-grown and tree-shaded. 



THE PHILADELPHIA OF TO-DAY 47 

the City Fathers have been Hberal providers, there being 
fifty-six such resting places where the weary city toiler 
can rest and gain a glimpse of rural greenery. The 
laying out of these open spaces began with William Penn, 
who planned five such resting places for his embryo city. 
Four of these remain, F'ranklin, Washington, Rittenhouse 
and Logan Squares, named after men famous in the city's 
former history. To these must be added Independence 
Square, of somewhat later origin. Center Square, Penn's 
fifth opening, has vanished under the weight of the mon- 
umental City Hall. To these older openings in the brick 
and stone wilderness, some fifty others have since been 
added, widespread throughout the city and some of them 
of considerable area. Chief among those of recent origin 
is League Island Park, at the southern extremit}^ of 
the South Broad Street, or Southern, Boulevard and fac- 
ing League Island, the seat of the great Government nav}^ 
yard, yet to be described. In the foregoing no men- 
tion has been made of the city's famous pleasure ground, 
the world-known Fairmount Park, this being important 
enough to claim a chapter for itself. 

There are, however, some other pleasure grounds 
within the environs of the city which call for mention, 
especially Willow Grove Park, a highly ornamental local- 
ity, miles away from the city's center. Here there is 
much to amuse and entertain the casual visitor, and 
an open-air auditorium where thousands ma^^ hear the 
choicest of band music. Woodside Park, on the western 
border of Fairmount Park, is a nearer locality offering 
similar entertainment. A series of parks offering attrac- 
tions of a different character, but equally popular, include 
the National League Ball Park, at 15th and Huntingdon 
Streets, Shibe Park, at 21st Street and Lehigh Avenue, one 



48 THE PHILADELPHIA OF TO-DAY 

of the largest ball grounds in the country, and Franklin 
Field, the athletic grounds of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, the scene of many intercollegiate football contests. 
These are some of the more interesting of the places 
provided for lovers of sport, but there is one more that 
cannot go without mention, the widely-known rowing 
course of the Schuylkill Navy, the *' Henley of America," 
as it has been called. This lies on the Schuylkill, above 
Columbia Bridge, and has been the scene of many hotly 
contested rowing events between the oarsmen of various 
universities. It is admirably adapted for the purpose 
and constantly attracts multitudes of enthusiastic spec- 
tators to the lookout places on the umbrageous surround- 
ing river banks. This chapter has been, in a partial 
measure, a bird's-eye glance at Philadelphia. Let us re- 
turn from its external features and take a stroll through 
the shopping district of the city, the realm of the seller 
and buyer, of the merchant and shopper. Among the 
streets devoted to this pleasant and profitable duty Market 
and Chestnut Streets stand first, Market Street as the 
haunt of the vast multitudes of buyers, Chestnut Street 
as a more exclusive while more expensive field of purchase. 
It is in Market Street that we find the swaying, crush- 
ing crowds that go out, armed cap-a-pie, to purchase in 
the happy Christmastide, or the eager throng of bargain 
seekers who gather for the fray around the bargain 
counter, at times paying in mental and physical dis- 
array more than full value for all they get. 

The original idea of the founder was that High Street 
should be the great shopping center. But the tide of 
affairs flowed differently. High Street won the name of 
Market Street through the kind of business transacted 



THE PHILADELPHIA OF TO-DAY 49 

there and Chestnut Street became the mart of shopping 
traffic east and west. Second Street was long the great 
shopping avenue north and south. Within quite recent 
times the tide has turned again. The first department 
store, the Wanamaker estabhshment, opened its doors 
on Market Street after the Centennial year, and since 
then the department store area has flowed eastward 
until that street from Broad to Seventh is largely ab- 
sorbed by these great marts, in which almost everything 
imaginable may be bought. The}- form the great bazaar 
feature of the Occident. 

Wandering up and down these two streets within the 
limits stated one cannot help bestowing the meed of 
praise to Philadelphia's storekeepers for one phase of 
artistic ability, that of store-window decoration. Many 
of the store windows are true works of art, and in look- 
ing upon them the eye is feasted with designs in arrange- 
ment of true skill, art and effectiveness. No city in the 
United States surpasses, if any equals, Philadelphia in 
this field of display, and the Philadelphia store window 
is widely acknowledged as a w^ork of art that takes cap- 
tive the passing eye. The shopping district is not con- 
fined to the localit}^ mentioned. Philadelphia covers too 
wide an area not to have many minor shopping streets 
and districts. Yet the department store is the Mecca 
of the ardent shopper, and every attraction is used to draw 
him or her to these precincts sacred to the bargain. 

As for the wholesale district, it has become in large 
measure confined to the district betw^een Eighth Street 
and the Delaware, within which area large quantities of 
goods annually change hands, and many minor fields of 
manufacture are diligently prosecuted. 



50 UNRIVALLED FAIRMOUNT PARK 



7. The Unrivalled Fairmount Park. 

With an area well over 3,000 acres and a picturesqueness 
and scenic beauty not equalled by any other municipal 
park in the world, Fairmount Park is a treasure of at- 
tractiveness of which the citizens of Philadelphia may 
justly be proud. It is a great show-place for all who 
visit this city, one indeed they are sure to ask for, since 
this grand park has a reputation that has spread widely 
over all civilized lands. 

It is the one park in the world that has a large river 
for one of its features of attraction. And we may say 
also that it is the one city park through which passes 
what is practically a mountain ravine, for such is the 
Wissahickon Valley, with its steep wooded slopes, its 
rippling and lucent stream, and its delightful woodside 
paths. Fairmount Park constitutes the bluff banks and 
undulating back-country of the Schuylkill and the won- 
derfully picturesque valley of the Wissahickon through 
miles of their meandering course. Several miles more of 
the upper valley of the latter stream have recently been 
added, carrying the park in this direction far beyond 
the city boundary and northward to Fort Washington, 
a locality with a Revolutionary history. 

It is not alone charms of nature that the Wissahickon 
has to show. There is also to be seen a notable work 
of engineering art, the remarkable concrete bridge which 
spans the ravine at Walnut Lane, the most striking of 
the numerous ones that cross the city's streams. 

The East Park. — On the eastern side of the Schuylkill 
the banks ascend abruptly to an upper level, leaving 



UNRIVALLED FAIRMOUNT PARK 51 

only space for a driveway between the hill and the 
stream. This section, the East Park, is not very wide, 
but has many attractive localities and contains several 
old mansions, including the country house of Robert 
Morris, of Revolutionary^ fame, on Lemon Hill. Further 
north are the Spring Garden Water Works (now out of 




ARNOLD S MANSION, FAIRMOUNT PARK 

service) and the large East Park Reservoir with storage 
capacity for over 700,000,000 gallons, an ample and well- 
appointed children's playground with a suitable building 
for indoor purposes, and farther north the Mount Pleas- 
sant Mansion, a historic edifice bought by Benedict 
Arnold in 1779 for his wife. 

The mansion houses of other old estates lie north of 



52 UNRIVALLED FAIRMOUNT PARK 

this, chief among them being Strawberry Mansion, on 
the summit of a rocky bluff with a fine outlook over the 
river. This is a favorite place of resort, several trolley 
lines centering in the near vicinity and the surrounding 
grounds being handsomely decorated. It is also the 
starting point in this section of the Park Trolley line, 
which here crosses the river on a bridge and traverses 
the most picturesque scenic reaches of the West Park. 
Northward still the driveway skirts the foot of the 
beautiful Laurel Hill Cemetery, sweeps past the manu- 
facturing village of Falls of Schuylkill, and passes on-, 
ward to the output of the Wissahickon, to follow the 
latter through its meandering course. 

The West Park. — The W^est Park escapes the con- 
tracted proportions which the crowding city has imposed 
upon the East Park, it stretching far backward from the 
upper edge of the river bluff. Its limit in this direction 
is George's Hill, so called from its donor, Jesse George, 
in which the park surface reaches its highest elevation, 
that of 210 feet above the tidal level. Nearer the stream 
is the old Lansdowne property, owned by John Penn, 
"The American," and Egglesfield Mansion, built and 
occupied by another John, his nephew, during the Revo- 
lution. It is in the vicinity of this, on the high ground 
above the Lansdowne Drive, that the William Penn house, 
the oldest building in Pennsylvania, stands, removed 
hither from its original location in the city. North- 
ward in the West Park are the Belmont Water Works, 
which furnish the water supply for West Philadelphia, and 
at the head of the shady Belmont Glen above this stands 
Belmont Mansion, the handsome residence of the eminent 
Judge Peters, who was born and died here (1744-1828). 



UNRIVALLED FAIRMOUNT PARK 53 

This mansion is a favorite locality for visitors to the 
West Park, music and floral decorations adding to its 
attractiveness. North of it is a wide stretch of wood- 
land, with the Park Nursery in one corner, and farther 
north the old mansion known as Chamouni, with a lake 
used for boating and a deeply wooded dell, with wind- 
ing, umbrageous paths, beyond. From this locality can 
be had a magnificent view of the West Park, with the 
winding river below and on its other side the great 
"Wliite City" of Laurel Hill Cemetery. Such is a concise 
account of the general features of the main section of Fair- 
mount Park. The Old Park, the small garden below Lemon 
Hill, and the germ of the present great expanse, adjoins 
and partly surrounds the old "Faire Mount," the reservoir 
hill. Fronting Lemon Hill is the long row of boat-houses 
of the Schuylkill Navy, while nearby is a seated statue 
of President Lincoln, and, farther south, the magnificent 
Washington Monument described on the following page. 

The Zoological Garden. — A considerable tract of 
ground in the southeast corner of the West Park has 
been utilized for a well-filled zoological garden, contain- 
ing animals and birds from all parts of the world. The 
tract occupied was formerly the country seat of John 
Penn, grandson of the founder, who gave it the name 
of "Solitude." The mansion occupied by him still stands 
and serves as the official center of the garden. The col- 
lection of animals here was long the finest and most 
complete in this country, it being surpassed onl}^ by the 
great displays at London and Paris. The tract con- 
tains thirty-three acres, its ravines and rolling surface 
well adapting it for the landscape-garden treatment 
which is one of its attractive features. At the Girard 



54 UNRIVALLED FAIRMOUNT PARK 

Avenue entrance to the Garden is a striking bronze 
group, the D^^ing Lioness, one of the most effective 
examples of animal sculpture in the country. 

An aquarium has recently been added to the park at- 
tractions, occupying the power-houses of the old water- 
works, with an adjoining pool tenanted by seals, the daily 
feeding of which attracts many spectators. 

Art Decorations. — At the Green Street entrance to 
the park stands the finest bronze group in this country, 
the famous equestrian statue of Washington. Its deco- 
rations include examples of the largest American animals, 
recumbent statues of Indian and pioneer men and w^omen, 
decorations expressive of peace and war, and handsome 
fountain effects, the group drawing a constant succes- 
sion of visitors. 

There are several other examples of equestrian statuarj^ 
in the park, one of the most attractive being that of 
Joan of Arc, the work of a famous French sculptor, 
which stands at the east end of Girard Avenue bridge. 
Several emblematic groups are also to be seen, including 
St. George and the Dragon, The Cowboy, The Stone Age, 
and the extensive group of the Catholic Total Abstinence 
Fountain. The Smith Memorial, erected at a cost of 
half a million dollars, with shafts one hundred and seven 
feet high, is intended to honor Pennsylvania heroes of 
the Civil War, the shafts being decorated with statues 
of Generals Meade, Thomas, Hancock and McClellan. 
Other monuments of interest are one of President Lincoln, 
the cabin used by General Grant during the siege of 
Petersburg, now on Lemon Hill, and a group of basaltic 
columns from Giants' Causeway, Ireland. 

Such are the more notable of the artistic attractions 



UNRIVALLED FAIRMOUNT PARK 



55 




COWBOY STATUE, 
FAIRMOUNT PARK 

of the park. To 
them has recently 
been added a Jap- 
anese pagoda, giv- 
ing an excellent 
counterpart of 
the Old Nippon 
style of decora- 
tion. 

The Cen- 
tennial Ex- 
position. — 
F a i r m o u n t 
Park became 
well known to 
the people of 
this country 
when it was 
used as the 



site of the Centennial 
Exposition of 1876, the 
first of the great 
World's Fairs this 
country has know^n. 
Of the exhibition build- 
ings of the Fair two 
remain, Memorial Hall 
and Horti- 
cultural 
Hall, which 
have since 
then con- 
tinned 
splendid 
centers of 
attraction 
for the art 
and nature 



THE STONE AGE, 
FAIRMOUNT 
PARK 




THE SMITH MEMORIAL, FAIRMOUNT PARK. 




loving Philadelphian. 
In Memorial Hall the 
School of Industrial 
Art has gathered a 
magnificent collection 
of industrial art ob- 
jects, including sev- 



IJXCOLN MONUMENT, 
IWTRMOT'N'T PARK 




era! loan collections 
on permanent exhi- 



basaltk^ columns from 
giants' causeway, 

IRELAND. 
FAIRMOUNT PARK 

bition. Here also is 
placed the costly 
Wilstach art gal- 
lery, which is an- 
nually growing in 
value, and will 



JAPANESE PAGODA, FAIRMOUNT PARK 



UNRIVALLED FAIRMOUNT PARK 



57 



finally be displayed in the great art museum now projected. 

Horticultural Hall occupies a bluff overlooking the 

Schuylkill and contains a splendid collection of exotic 

plants of great variety and profusion. The grounds sur- 




MEMORIALHALL, 
FAIRMOUNT 
PARK 



rounding it 
are decora- 
ted with not- 
able pieces of 
statuary and 
p 1 a n t e d 

abundantly with trees and shrubbery. The Hall and 
grounds are especially notable for their frequent floral dis- 
plays, as of rhododendrons, roses, chrysanthemums, and 
other sliowv blooms. 



HORTICULTURAL HALt, FAIRMOUNT PARK 



58 UNRIVALLED FAIRMOUNT PARK 

The West Park is admirably fitted for display, especially 
the broad level below Belmont Mansion, where there 
frequently takes place some striking annual event, in- 
cluding the showy marches of the Knights Templar. A 
scene of historic interest, representing the development 
of the city, was here recently given. To the west lies 
a speedway for fast trotters, and the whole West Park 
has on several successive occasions been turned into a 
great auto-speedway, the occasional sharp turns and 
changes of level adding a sharp spice of danger to this 
form of entertainment. 



CENTERS OF MUNICIPAL ACTIVITIES 59 



8. Centers of Municipal Activities. 

The Center Square laid out by William Penn at the 
point of crossing of his two main streets was divided 
into four small squares when Market and Broad Streets 
were cut through it. Thus it remained until 1871, when 
the building of the great pile of the City Hall began, 
definitely, and injudiciously as it has proved, closing these 
two great streets in their central portion. Among our 
centers of municipal activities this enormous group of 
buildings stands first, and a description of it, as the main 
seat of the city government, comes here in place. 

We have already spoken of the old City Hall, adjoin- 
ing Independence Hall on its Fifth and Chestnut Street 
side. Here the Mayor and his officials made their homes 
until the new Hall was finished, since which time all the 
diversified work of the city government has been con- 
ducted within its ample space. The government of Phila- 
delphia had long outgrown the dimensions of the old 
Hall, the courts and some other branches of government 
finding homes elsewhere. In laying out plans for the 
new City Hall it was determined to make it large enough 
to meet all possible demands, and a building was erected 
larger by odds than any other public building in America, 
one surpassing in area even the Capitol at Washington. 
Its length north and south is 4863^ feet, east and west 
470 feet, the total area covered being four and a half 
acres, exclusive of a central courtyard two hundred 
feet square. Surrounding it is a grand avenue '^205 feet 
wide on the north and 135 feet on the other sides, while 
the building climbs to an enormous height, its central 



60 



CENTERS OF MUNICIPAL ACTIVITIES 



tower rising to 
an elevation of 
537V3 feet, and 
terminating in a 
colossal statue of 
William Penn, 
thirty-six feel 
high. xAn ele- 
vator carries 
visitors to Z^'^.J 



the foot ol 
the Penn 




statue, 
where is 
an out- 
look station 
furnishing a 
splendid view 
of the city, 
near and distant, 
from the throng 
of surrounding 
skyscrapers to the 
more remote sec 
tions. The state 
ment that the visi 




tors to this point in 
1915 numbered 70,000 
indicates its attractive- 
ness alike to citizens 
and tourists. 

The basement of 
this building is of 
fine granite and the 
superstructure of 
white marble, the 
whole strongly 
)acked with brick 
and made thor- 
oughly fire-proof. 
It contains 5W 
'oonis, all the 
City Depart- 
ments finding 
in it abiding 
places, also 
the Council 
and Courts. Yet 
in the thirty or 
more years since 
it was completed 
the needs of the 




STATUE OF WILLIAM PENN IN PLAZA OF CITY HALL 



CENTERS OF MUNICIPAL ACTIVITIES 61 

city government have grown beyond its great capacity, 
and it is proposed to find room for some of the Courts 
along the adjoining Parkway, new quarters being also 
found for the city's educational department. 

Architecturally the City Hall is a highly ornate struct- 
ure, being a fine example of the French Renaissance, 
with its florid combination of classic and modern schools. 
Its interior is adorned with a large amount of statuary 
in high and low relief, while from the lofty pediments 
without gigantic statues look down. The entrances are 
imposing, that on the north side containing a group of 
polished-stone columns, while the hall under the great 
tower is unique and striking in its architectural effects. 
Externally the lofty tower, of remarkable height, domi- 
nates the city, and is visible for miles in every direc- 
tion, the light in the clock tower being extinguished for 
a few minutes before nine every evening to enable those 
at a distance to set their clocks at the right hour. 

Since the completion of this great municipal pile the 
pavement surrounding has been decorated with important 
examples of statuary, including equestrian figures, statues 
of Girard, Leidy, Muhlenberg, Bullitt and McClellan, and 
an ideal figure of the Puritan. The total cost of this 
great edifice figured up over $20,000,000. 

Commodious and useful as is this great City Hall, it 
has more than once proved a heartburn to Philadel- 
phians. In Broad Street, with its great width and many 
miles of length, Philadelphia possesses a grand avenue 
admirably adapted to parades and processions, one in 
which it is not equalled by any other city. Yet there 
is a break in the middle of this avenue, that due to the 
City Hall, forcing every procession to contract and swing 



62 CENTERS OF MUNICIPAL ACTIVITIES 

around this building in a mode not altogether agreeable. 
Another difficulty arose when the Subway under Market 
Street was proposed. The suggestion was made that 
it could be carried under the obstructing building. But 
this expedient seemed too much of a risk. There was 
danger that the great pile might sag down into the Sub- 
way. Finally it was deemed necessary to carry the exca- 
vation around the Hall, with single tracks north and 
south. 

A similar problem arose in 1915, when a new Subway, 
one underlying Broad Street, was projected. But in the 
meantime engineers had grown more daring or more re- 
sourceful and it was now resolved to plunge under the 
great Hall. Not under the huge tower, however, with 
its enormous weight. It was decided, on the contrary, 
to swing westward and carry the Subway under the 
wings of the building, where the weight was much less, 
concrete pillars being sunk to rock bottom and in this 
way holding up the great structure. This stupendous 
engineering feat, however, is yet awaiting accomplishment. 

Municipal Departments-^TIic government and con- 
trol of a great city nowadays is a complex problem, 
more so than was formerly that of many nations. The 
Mayor needs his cabinet and official staff, as the Presi- 
dent needs his, and each member of the staff has many 
duties to perform. Philadelphia has five such depart- 
ments, those of Public Works, Public Safety, Public 
Health and Charity, Supplies, and Wharves, Docks and 
Ferries. Each of these has its circle of duties to cover 
and its busy corps of workers and assistants, and no 
city can be justly described without an account of its 
departmental work. Under Public Works, for instance, 



CENTERS OF MUNICIPAL ACTIVITIES 63 

comes the important one of water supples to which some 
attention must be given. 

Water Supply. — The first attempt to supply Phila- 
delphia with water, other than that to be obtained from 
wells, was on a small scale and of a somewhat crude 
character. The Schuylkill River was its source, the water 
being raised by water power and carried by wooden 
pipes down Market Street to a reservoir at Center Square, 
whence it was piped to the various sections of the city. 
This was in 1799, but most of the people preferred their 
well water and the new supply came very slowly into 
service. In 1818 the much larger works at Fairmount 
were completed and brought into use, the high and broad 
hill at that place being utilized as a reservoir and the 
Schuylkill dammed to furnish an adequate supply. Now, 
nearly a century later, this locality has been definitely 
abandoned, it being proposed to use the old "Faire 
Mount" as the site of an imposing Art Gallery. 

The needs of the growing city were such that a con- 
tinual addition was made to the works; the Spring Garden 
and Belmont works were erected, capacious reservoirs 
were built, and finally, to avoid the use of the raw and 
unsanitary Schuylkill water, a new and enormous filtering 
plant was established at Torresdale, on the Delaware, a 
similar plant being founded at Belmont for the supply 
of West Philadelphia with pure water. This is not all. 
To avoid the waste of the costly filtered water in putting 
out fires, powerful pumping stations have been built on 
the Delaware, supplying water at high pressure to the 
central business section, that in which great and costly 
conflagrations are most likely to occur. 

Lighting. — In close connection with the question of 



64 CENTERS OF MUNICIPAL ACTIVITIES 

fire comes that of lighting. In this respect Philadelphia 
stands at a high level of efficiency, it having won the 
reputation of being the best-lighted city in the world. 
At night its central portion, especially along Market, 
Chestnut and Broad Streets, is a blaze of electric splendor, 
while there is scarcely a street in the city, however 
humble, without its electric bulbs. House lighting is 
still mainly done by gas, but the general use of the 
incandescent Welsbach mantle makes a source of in- 
terior illumination not easily surpassed. 

Paving. — Philadelphia is admirably well paved. The 
old-time cobble-stones, once looked upon as the best 
fitted city paving, have been consigned to the limbo of 
the unfit, and the square Belgian blocks, which replaced 
them, have also largely disappeared, being succeeded by 
asphalt and vitrified })rick, and in Market, Arch, and 
some other streets by the latest idea in wood paving, 
blocks treated with liquid pitch being used which at 
once resist wear and decay. The Market Street pave- 
ment, the oldest of these, remains practically intact after 
some ten years of service. 

The one objectionable feature of these smooth-surfaced 
pavements is their slipperiness when wet or icy, this 
rendering it very difficult for horses to retain their foot- 
ing. But the horse is a rapidly vanishing means of 
traction in city streets, the auto-truck and auto-car taking- 
its place, and the time may come when the horse will 
practically disappear from this line of duty. 

Drainage. — Little need be said about drainage. This 
is one of those necessary items of city machinery which 
does its work underground, but none the less effectively 
from being hidden from sight. Sewage and surface water 



CENTERS OF MUNICIPAL ACTIVITIES 65 

drainage must have sufficient means of escape, and be- 
neath the skin of every large city of our day runs an 
interlocking series of veins and arteries ceaselessly en- 
gaged in supplying water and removing waste. The 
great question that faces the most of our cities is the 
proper method of disposing of this waste. To empty it 
into the rivers, the method usually employed, is a source 
of great risk to the public health, and not the least im- 
portant of the projects of improvement in Philadelphia 
is the adoption of some method of sewage disposal which 
will render it innocuous and perhaps adapt it for fertiliz- 
ing purposes. This is one of the projects which our city 
fathers have in mind. 

Policing. — The proper policing of a great city is a 
matter of high importance. The time was when Phila- 
delphia, like all of our cities, was very inefficiently served 
in this respect, when riots raged for days with which 
the small and ill-trained police force was unable to cope, 
and when the volunteer fire-companies were in a state of 
chronic hostility, buildings being at times set on fire with 
the purpose of provoking a fight. Philadelphia was very 
ill-governed in this respect in the period preceding the Civil 
War. Turmoil frequently prevailed and the authorities 
were often at a loss how to deal with the riotous element. 

Such is by no means the case in our day, for the 
Quaker City has now a highly efficient and capable 
body of police. The disorders and disturbances of the 
past have ceased to exist, the careful supervision of the 
police force is ready to nip any incipient outrage in the 
bud, and the patrolmen have matters so under control 
that many of them can be spared to supervise the move- 
ments of automobiles and other vehicles and assure to 



66 CENTERS OF MUNICIPAL ACTIVITIES 

the ordinary citizen some rights in the streets. As for 
the Fire Department, that also has been reformed and 
transformed. The reckless old volunteers have given 
way to a thoroughly trained body of fire fighters, and 
with the now abundant supply of water a conflagration 
cannot easily get beyond control. 

Other Departments. — The purpose of this chapter is 
to point out the efficiency which Philadelphia has at- 
tained in its important governmental requirements. There 
are several fields of duty in which this capacity of doing 
good work is to be seen. The Department of Health 
and Charity, for instance, keeps wide awake to the 
duties intrusted to it, and careful sanitation is the rule. 
The least indication of an epidemic of any kind calls 
out its whole fighting force and strenuous measures are 
taken to prevent the spread of disease. It is particu- 
larly in the slum districts, the abiding place of the heed- 
less and improvident, that care needs to be taken, and 
a new problem has arisen, that of sanitary housing, 
which is just now a subject of active public interest. 

Charity, proper care of the poor and suffering, is a 
task that calls for efficient management. Whether it is 
getting this is now a question in which the public is 
growing interested. Large as is Blockle}^ Almshouse, 
for example, the demands of the indigent poor seem to 
have grown beyond its capacities, and there is a strong 
public awakening to the need of improved accommo- 
dations. Connected with Blockley is the Philadelphia 
Hospital, the oldest institution of its kind in the country, 
in which there is a department for the insane poor, who 
similarly need more room. The Pennsylvania Hospital 
for the Insane, usually known as Kirkbride's, on Market 



CENTERS OF MUNICIPAL ACTIVITIES 67 

Street west of Forty-second, and extending to Fiftieth, 
stands so strongly in the way of pubhc improvement 
in this quarter that it may soon be removed to a rural 
district owned by it, with the idea of using the present 
large area for park and other purposes. 

Another of the city departments which is now attract- 
ing decided attention is that connected with the port 
of Philadelphia, which needs to be fitted for a resump- 
tion of its former activity as a shipping center. This de- 
mands a deepening of the river channel, now well under 
way, and important additions to the facilities in the way 
of wharves and docks. Formerly what was known as 
Smith's Island stood midway between Philadelphia and 
Camden, in the most direct line of ferriage. To aid 
the latter a channel was cut through the island for the 
passage of ferryboats. But it finally became necessary to 
remove the whole island. This was done many years ago 
and the present generation of travellers scarcely knows 
that such an obstruction to free passage once existed. 
The whole channel opposite the city is now in navigable 
condition 

Philadelphia is responding nobly to the new spirit of prog- 
ress and the active steps taken for harbor improvement. 
At the present time more freight is passing through its 
port than at any time in its history, and it has risen 
to the rank of the second largest revenue producer in 
the United States. It has passed Boston in this respect 
and is second only to New York. Plans for increased 
steamship facilities have progressed so far as to assure 
the establishment of lines of vessels to all the important 
seaports of the world. In view of the fact that this 
port has a river channel to the sea of 30 feet in depth 



68 CENTERS OF MUNICIPAL ACTIVITIES 

at low tide and of 35 feet in considerable part, and varying 
from 600 to 1,000 feet in width, and has 267 wharves of 
all sizes, many of them belonging to the great railroad 
companies, at which ships of large size can dock and 
unload, free of wharfage, it will appear that its provision 
for accepting and handling trade is very large, and the 
probability of a marked increase in future commerce is 
excellent. 

Supplies. — In former years the purchase of supplies 
for the city's needs was a highly unsystematic procedure, 
each department or branch of the city government at- 
tending to or neglecting its own needs in its own way, 
while mismanagement and overcharge were the rule. 
The new Department of Supplies is organized to deal 
with this important matter in an orderly and scientific 
method, the whole matter of purchasing materials for 
the city's varied needs being under one head and in the 
hands of one body of officials, a system the good effects 
of which are clearly apparent. It is an adaptation of 
the new idea of business management in civic affairs. 

Transit. — Scientific principles have also been applied 
as far as possible in the matter of public transit, the 
rapid and comfortable carriage of the people from part 
to part of the far-extended city. This is in charge of a 
director. Important progress has been made, and the 
plans for rapid transit by means of Subway and Elevated 
street railways, now in process of development, promise 
to be of great advantage to the people of Philadelphia. 
The doing away with the present system of exchanges 
and substitution of free passes in transfer to cross lines 
has recently been vigorously advocated. 



FEDP:RAL institutions in PHIIADELPHIA 69 

9. Federal Institutions in Philadelphia. 

Philadelphia still retains monuments brought over from 
the days when it was the capital of the United States. 
Some of these have been mentioned. There are others 
of considerable interest. Of its banking institutions the 
most important historically is the Bank of North America, 
No. 307 Chestnut Street, the oldest bank in the country, 
built and organized in 1781, under the auspices of Robert 
Morris, and of great aid to the United States in the final 
years of its struggle for independence. Originally a plain 
brick building, its site is now occupied by a handsome 
granite edifice, more in accordance with its historical 
dignity, the original building having disappeared. 

United States Banks. — Philadelphia was the seat of 
the two Banks of the United States, the only govern- 
mental institutions of this kind in our history. The 
first of these was founded by Alexander Hamilton, the 
capable Secretary of the Treasury, in 1791, its charter 
being for twenty years. As this expired in 1811 and was 
not renewed, the building was purchased by Stephen 
Girard and became the seat of the Girard Bank, the 
financial backbone of the government in the war of 
1812-14. It still stands, a classical Grecian structure, 
situated on Third Street below Chestnut, its marble 
portico facing the head of Dock Street. Opposite it, 
between Walnut and Dock Streets, stands an interesting 
structure, of classical design. This, long known as the 
Merchants' Exchange, is a handsome marble building, 
modelled after the edifice at Athens known as the 
"Lantern of Demosthenes." Its peculiar feature is its 
semicircular front, adorned with a Corinthian portico. 



70 FEDERAL INSTITUTIONS IN PHILADELPHIA 

The second United States Bank, chartered m 1816 
for twenty years, was, hke the former, built by the 
Federal government, a stately and handsome building, 
erected (1819-^4) on the south side of Chestnut Street 
west of Fourth. It was modelled after the famous 
Parthenon at Athens, and is 
regarded as one of the finest 
examples of the Doric 
order of architecture 
extant. As a Federal 
bank it was ruined 
by President Jack- 
son, who vetoed the 
bill renewing its 
charter. It has long 
been used as the 
United States Cus- 
tom House for Phiht- 




CUSTOM HOUSE 



delphia, also as the Sub-Treasury, and is still an ornament 
to the city's finest street. 

Post-Offic E. — The United States Post-office, which was 
completed in 1884, occupies the entire square on Ninth 
Street between Market and Chestnut, having a front length 



FEDERAL INSTITUTIONS IN PHILADELPHIA 71 

of 484 feet, and a depth of 175 feet. It is built of granite, 
four lofty stories in height, with a dome reaching 170 
feet above street level. The several departments of the 
post-office are arranged on the first floor, the other floors 
being devoted to a variety of purposes, including the 
United States Court Rooms, the Geological Survey, 



^ 





POST OFFICE BUIUJING 



Coast Survey, Weather Bureau, Light-House Board, 
Secret Service, Signal Service, and offices of various 
officials of the Federal government. The cost of ground 
and building was approximately $9,500,000. 

The facilities of this large building, once thought 
sufficient for a long term of years, are already outgrown. 



72 FEDERAL INSTITUTIONS IN PHILADELPHIA 

despite the fact that there are numerous branch offices 
throughout the city, and the need of a more capacious 
building is being debated. The locahties suggested for 
this are on Market and Arch Streets, in positions giving 
convenient access to the Pennsylvania Railroad Station 
and car tracks. 

United States Mint. — One -of the important institu- 
tions which Philadelphia inherits from its former position 
as the Federal capital is the Mint, the location whence 
has issued in an unceasing gold, silver and copper stream 
the great flood of metallic money which supplies in this 
direction the needs of the people of the United States. 
Though mints in other cities were later established, for 
local convenience, Philadelphia remains the great center 
of coinage, especially of the minor coins, and that not 
only for this country, since the Philadelphia Mint is at 
present engaged in coining a large supply of gold for use 
in the republic of Cuba, and has also provided coin for 
Central and South American countries. 

The original Mint building was erected in 1792, on 
Seventh Street above Market. It soon proved inade- 
quate and was replaced (1829-33) by a building on 
Chestnut Street, west of Thirteenth. This in turn be- 
came inadequate, the 10,000,000 pieces coined here in 
1833 having grown to about 100,000,000 pieces annually 
fifty years later. The total value in metal money coined 
in Philadelphia in the century after the establishment of 
the Mint was more than $1,000,000,000. 

The Mint building now occupies an ample site on 
Spring Garden Street, between Sixteenth and Seventeenth 
Streets, the new structure being deemed adequate to 
meet all demands for minting for many years to come. 



FEDERAL INSTITUTIONS IN PHILADELPHIA 73 

The handsome marble edifice erected is an ornament to 
the broad street on which it stands. In it is a valuable 
cabinet of ancient and modern coins, which are shown to 
visitors, together with the methods of coining, on each 
working day from 9 to 3 o'clock. 

In the Philadelphia Mint at the present time most of the 
minor coins of the country are made, cents having largely 
succeeded dollars in the outflow, they being in more demand 
for commercial purposes than dollars and eagles in these 
days of paper currency. The devices and dies for all 
coins used in the country are made here. 

Frankford Arsenal. — The Bridesburg United States 
Arsenal, commonly known as the Frankford Arsenal, is 
situated in the northern suburb of Bridesburg, and has 
a considerable frontage on Frankford Creek. Its grounds, 
more than sixty-two acres in extent, are enclosed by a 
stone wall and an iron fence, the space within being in 
part planted with trees and shrubbery. Ammunition and 
fire-arms are manufactured here and stored in magazines. 
Some large pieces of artillery have occasionally^ been con- 
structed in the works. It is now proposed to increase on 
a large scale the facilities of this institution, to pro- 
vide for possible future contingencies. 

Naval Asylum. — More interesting to the tourist is the 
Naval Asylum, a commodious building on the east bank 
of the Schuylkill River, at Bainbridge Street and Gray's 
Ferry Road, built by the United States as a home for 
retired man-of-war's men who have served for twenty 
years in the national navy. The "Home," as the main 
structure is called, consists of a central building, with 
wings, the front having a length of 380 feet, while the 
building is roomy enough to accommodate comfortablv 



74 FEDERAL INSTITUTIONS IN PHILADELPHIA 

three hundred inmates. The central building is reached 
by a broad flight of steps, the entrance being adorned by 
a handsome portico of eight Ionic columns supporting a 
pediment. The rooms of the residents are in the wings, 
each having a separate room, for the proper care of 
which he is held responsible. A fine attic and basement 
complete the building, which is substantially constructed 
in every part. 

The ceilings of two floors are vaulted in solid masonry 
and the room used as a muster room and chapel is a 
remarkably high-domed apartment. The institution is, 
in every respect, an "asylum," a place of rest for "de- 
crepit and disabled naval officers, seamen and marines." 

Within the grounds, about twenty-five acres in extent, 
is a government Naval Hospital, with accommodations for 
some three hundred and fifty patients, and to which mem- 
bers of the naval service of every degree of rank are ad- 
mitted. Near at hand, also on Gray's Ferry Road, are the 
grounds of the Schuylkill Arsenal, an old establishment, once 
perhaps an arsenal in the true sense, but now a huge gov- 
ernment clothing factory, giving employment to hundreds 
of operatives at their homes in making army clothing. 
One of the buildings contains a curious collection of wax 
figures dressed to represent the uniforms of United States 
soldiers at various historical periods. 

League Island Navy A^ard. — Philadelphia's most im- 
portant recent acquisition from the government is the 
Navy A^ard at League Island. This was founded in the 
Centennial year, 1876, and its development has had a 
desirable eft'ect upon what was once considered a hope- 
less region. This, known as "The Neck," is the low 
and flat part of the city where its two rivers run together 



FEDERAL INSTITUTIONS IN PHILADELPHIA 75 

and become one, long a region of marshes and mosquitos, 
piggeries and truck patches. xAt present this unprom- 
ising district is looking up. The village of small but 
comfortable houses built by the Girard Trust has cast 
over it an aspect of respectability, which is being added 
to by other building enterprises. It is penetrated by a 
handsome boulevard on the line of Broad Street, with an 
attractive plaza at its upper extremity, and League Island 
Park, a public pleasure ground approaching a square mile 
in area, at its river end. 

Here, just east of the inlet of the Schuylkill into the 
Delaware, lies League Island, bordering the Delaware 
shore for a length of two and a quarter miles, and of a 
width varying from a half to a quarter mile. It is four 
miles from the City Hall, on the line of Broad Street, 
and is separated from the shore by a Back Channel, 
deep and wide enough to serve as a safe and commo- 
dious harbor. The island has a total area of 928 acres, 
tlie river fronting it ))eing wide and deep. 

Such was the j^lace selected })y the government as a 
suitable site for a fresh- water navy yard, its location 
on an easily defensible river and in the near vicinity of 
the coal and iron fields of Pennsylvania being regarded 
as a great advantage. The work of adapting the island 
to its new purpose began with the building of spacious 
naval and machine shops and the construction of a dry- 
dock, the first vessels to be stationed there being some 
old monitors and the receiving ship Sf. Louis. 

These humblt^ l)eginnings have been followed by a 
great expansion of the Navy Yard, which has now grown 
to l)e the largest in the Ignited States, with ample facili- 
ties for all kinds of naval construction. The visitor to 



76 FEDERAL INSTITUTIONS IN PHILADELPHIA 

the yard will find it fully adapted for sight-seeing, there 
being ten miles of driveway within its gates, while in 
its surrounding waters float a number of dreadnought 
battleships, with cruisers, gunboats, submarines and other 
warlike craft. iVt the beginning of 1916 there were pres- 
ent here eleven battleships in commission, also the lowa^ 
Indiana, and Massachusetts out of commission. This 
comprised nearly half the total number of United States 
battleships. The works on the island include a dry-dock 
of great capacity, warehouses, monster cranes, together 
with officers' cottages, marine barracks, gun-shops and 
other necessary buildings. 

There appears likely to be a great future for the League 
Island Navy Yard, in view of the fact that the govern- 
ment has it under consideration to build its own battle- 
ships. In case this is decided upon. League Island is 
in every respect the most available place, from its pro- 
tected interior situation and its nearness to the countr^^'s 
best resources of coal and iron. A number of battle- 
ships have already been built on the Delaware, at the 
Cramps' and the New York yards, and it will become a 
doubly important center of warship building if the 
government itself engages in this enterprise. 



PHILADELPHIA AS A COLLEGE TOWN 77 



10. Philadelphia as a College Town. 

University of Pennsylvania. — This great educational 
institution, like Harvard, Yale, and some others, has been 
a result of slow growth from a humble origin through the 
centuries. It began in 1749, Franklin having an active 
hand in it, as in so many other Philadelphia enterprises. 
Its modest title was the "Academy and Charitable 
School," its location on Fourth Street below Arch, but 
it set a high standard from the first, and attracted many 
students. In 1755 it became "The College, Academy 
and Charitable School of Philadelphia"; in 1779 its 
property was transferred to a new board, entitled "The 
University of the State of Pennsylvania," and in 1791 
the old college and the new university combined into 
one, under the present title 'of "The University of Penn- 
sylvania." 

A medical department had been added in 1765, one 
conducted so ably by the eminent men placed over it 
that it came to rank with the leading medical schools 
of Europe. The University found a home in the "Presi- 
dent's house," on Ninth Street south of Market, which 
President Washington had refused to occupy as too 
grand and expensive for him. This, and a building 
erected for the medical department, were eventually torn 
down and two large but plain buildings erected, and here 
the University remained until the government bought 
the site as a suitable one for a post-office. The literary 
department of the University was finally housed in a 
handsome green-serpentine group of buildings in West 
Philadelphia, near Thirty-fourth and Spruce Streets. 




COLLEGE HALL, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 
ENGINEERING BUILDING OF UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 
DENTAL HALL, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 



PHILADELPHIA AS A COLLEGE TOWN 79 



V. 





LAW SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 
HOUSTON HALL, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 



80 PHILADELPHIA AS A COLLEGE TOWT^J 





INTERSECTION <J. _„- . A.ND W EST QLADKANGLE, LM\ EKslTY OF I'ENNSYLN A., 1.1 

This, opened October 11, 1872, has proved the seed of 
a great growth; more than seventy buildings have be- 
come necessary to accommodate its multitudinous activ- 
ities. These cover, in addition to its literary depart- 
ment, schools of medicine, dentistry, law, science and 
art, laboratories of hygiene and general biology, a com- 
modious hospital, the Wistar Institute of Anatomy and 
Biology, extensive museums of archaeology and ethnology, 
a valuable library containing upward of 200,000 volumes, 
and Houston Hall, a students' club building. This great 
group of buildings, with the large and roomy dormi- 
tories, a botanical garden and other grounds, constitutes 
a large collegiate settlement devoted to the acquisition of 
learning. Its area includes the Franklin Field, a great 
intercollegiate playground, while the Flower Astronomical 
Observatory, a detached institution, is under its control, 
also the new Evans Dental Institute. Students seek it 
from all parts of the country and various foreign lands, 
its annual attendance having grown to 7,500. 

Temple University. — This institution, the College 
Hall of which is situated at Broad and Berks Streets, 
has grown out of the activities of Grace Baptist Church, 



PHILADELPHIA AS A COLLEGE TOWN 



81 




1: 



_,^g^l«A«^^^^^^^ 




EAST QUADRANGLE, UNIVERSITY Oi 



,IA DORMITORIES 



familiarly known as "The Temple." The College was 
organized as a center of liberal education at a very 
moderate cost, and has so widened in its scope and facil- 
ities that it has attained University dignity. Its attend- 
ance is large, its branches varied, including a flourish- 
ing medical department, and its usefulness great and 
growing. Its professional schools of medicine, dentistry, 
pharmacy and law are located at Button wood and Eigh- 
teenth Streets, where it has extensive and well-equipped 
buildings. 

In the immediate vicinity of Philadelphia are several other 
institutions of collegiate dignity worthy of mention, includ- 
ing Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Villa Nova, and 
Ursinus Colleges, and the Ogontz School for Young Ladies. 
It is desirable also to speak of Germantown Academy, on 
School Lane near Main Street, one of the oldest schools 
in the city, it dating back to 1760. Its purpose was to 
serve as an English and High Dutch or German school. 

GiRARD College. — A Philadelphia educational insti- 
tution which is known throughout the world is Girard 
College, a charitable enterprise founded by Stephen 
Girard, at one time famed alike as the richest and one 



82 



PHILADELPHIA AS A COLLEGE TOWN 



of the most penurious of Americans. Yet his devotion 
as a nurse during the terrible yellow fever outbreak in 
Philadelphia, and his wise provision for the care of 
orphans from his estate, have given him high rank 
among those ready to devote themselves for the good 
of mankind. It seems somewhat amusing at the present 
day to find Parton speaking of Girard as "so enormously 
rich," in view of the fact that his estate reached only 




GIRARD COLLEGE 



$9,000,000. But it must be remembered that this was in 
the early days of the multi-millionaire. 

His bequest for the college was $'2,000,000, but as 
this was not completed until sixteen years after his 
death, the interest of the bequest went far towards its 
completion. He had left the greater part of his remain- 
ing estate as an endowment, and this has been so judi- 
ciously managed that the total value now amounts to 



PHILADELPHIA AS A COLLEGE TOWN 83 

$34,000,000. This great increase is due to the fact that 
it includes rich coal lands. His first plan was to have 
the college built on a lot owned by him between Eleventh 
and Twelfth, Chestnut and Market Streets, but he after- 
wards chose the present location, then a farm owned by 
him outside the city, now in the closely built-up section 
north of Girard Avenue. The college, built under a 
design of the noted architect Thomas W. Walter, is one 
of the most magnificent of classical buildings anywhere 
to be seen. It is certainly the finest example of the 
Corinthian order of architecture in America. In dimen- 
sions it is 169 feet long by 111 feet wide, and is surrounded 
by a portico of thirty-four columns, each fifty-five feet 
high and six feet in diameter. 

To invest his money in a magnificent building was 
certainly not Girard's design. He had in view rather 
the good of orphans than the pleasure of sightseers. 
But the bequest was managed with such care and judg- 
ment that there was abundance left for the main design, 
and at present the large lot is amply covered with build- 
ings for schools, dormitories and other purposes for an 
annual class of about 1,500, who have the best of care and 
are given an excellent practical education. 

Poor white male orphans, from six to ten years of 
age, are admitted, those born within the limits of old 
Philadelphia city having the preference; second, those 
born in Pennsylvania; third, those from New York; and 
fourth, those from New Orleans. And to keep the insti- 
tution from sectarian religious control, he made it a 
positive rule that no clergyman should ever enter its 
gates. Unsectarian religious instruction was, however, 
provided for. 



84 PHILADELPHIA AS A COLLEGE TOWN 

Such is Girard College, one of the best known and 
most visited of Philadelphia institutions. The original 
building is now used mainly as a show-place and library, 
the actual work being done in the adjoining buildings. 
The lawn in front of the college is beautifully deco- 
rated in summer with floral and foliage designs. As 
for the boys, these, besides receiving an excellent edu- 
cation, are trained in athletic and military exercises, have 
a band organized among themselves, and good places are 
sought for them on leaving the college. A number of 
persons of much prominence in Philadelphia began life 
as Girard College orphan boys. 

Drexel Institute. — This useful institution, its full 
name being "The Drexel Institute of Art, Science and 
Industry," is situated at the corner of Thirty-second 
and Chestnut Streets, and was founded and endowed 
by Anthony J. Drexel, at the time the head of the Drexel 
banking house. He donated $2,000,000 for building and 
endowment, the structure being completed and opened 
in 1892. The edifice, of light buff brick with darker 
trimmings, is a pure example of the classic Renaissance 
architecture. Entering by a richly decorated portal on 
Chestnut Street, and passing through a portico enriched 
with colored marbles, the visitor enters a central court, 
sixty -five feet square and open to the roof. Around 
this splendid court are arcaded galleries, leading to the 
laboratories, class-rooms, studios, etc., on the upper floors. 
There are also a library and reading room, a large audi- 
torium, a lecture hall, and a museum well supplied with 
examples of art work. The rates of tuition are low, and 
there are classes in art, science, business and industrial 
training. 



PHILADELPHIA AS A COLLEGE TOWN 85 

Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial 
Art. — The institution bearing this title, and situated at 
the northwest corner of Broad and Pine Streets, was 
incorporated in 1876, at the close of the Centennial Ex- 
position, **with a special view to the development of 
the art industries of the State," then found to be greatly 
lacking. The buildings occupy a complete block and cost 
$540,000. In its teachings it has a distinct industrial 
aim, drawing, modelling, painting and architecture being 
taught, also every kind of decorative art. A unique 
feature of the school is its textile department, in which 
instruction is given in all the arts of textile design and of 
loomcraft, also in wool-washing, carding, spinning, weav- 
ing, dyeing and industrial chemistry. It is the only 
school of its kind in America and is said to excel those 
abroad devoted to similar purposes. A valuable feature 
is the remarkably fine and highly varied collection of 
industrial art productions under its control and which 
are displayed at Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park. The 
collection here has been enormously enriched by several 
costly and valuable gifts made by individual collectors. 

School of Design for Women. — This important art 
school was founded in 1847, and in 1863 established at 
Broad and Merrick Streets. This property being taken 
for the Pennsylvania Railroad Station, the school gained 
possession of the Edwin Forrest mansion, at Broad and 
Master Streets, where it has since remained. It is the 
foremost institution of its kind in this country. With 
several hundred pupils, it is in a flourishing condition, 
giving instruction in the various branches of industrial 
art and in the elements of the fine arts. 

We may in passing allude to the Williamson Free 



86 PHILADELPHIA AS A COLLEGE TOWN 

School of Mechanical Trades, which lies in Delaware 
County, beyond the city limits, but was endowed by a 
city capitalist, I. V. Williamson, with $2,500,000, which 
is retained intact, all buildings having been erected out 
of the income. The cottage-family plan of residence 
has been adopted, accommodations being provided for 
about three hundred pupils. 

Public-School System. — In its educational institu- 
tions, public and private, Philadelphia has scarcely a rival 
among American cities. Its public-school system embraces 
313 schools with a teaching force of about 5,000. The 
buildings include several large and fine high and manual- 
training schools, in some of which so high a standard is set 
and the courses are so extensive that academic degrees 
are granted. Chief among these is the large and ornate 
Philadelphia High School, at Broad and Green Streets, four 
stories high and covering an area of 222 by 170 feet, with a 
large annex in which are an auditorium and a gymnasium. 

In this vicinity are three girls' advanced schools, the 
(jirls' High School, at Spring Garden and Seventeenth 
Streets; the Girls' Normal School, at Spring Garden and 
Thirteenth Streets, and the William Penn High School, 
for industrial training, on Fifteenth Street, from Mount 
Vernon to Wallace. In addition are several manual- 
training schools for boys, where general instruction in 
wood and iron work, electrical fitting, etc., is given. 
Recently the high-school system has been much extended, 
new high schools being built in districts remote from the 
center, greatly to the convenience of the pupils. As a 
whole the public-school system of Philadelphia is ad- 
mirable in its extension and its results. Connected with 
it is a pension retirement system of much utility. 



MEDICAL SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, ASYLUMS 87 



n. Medical Schools, Hospitals, and Asylums. 

Philadelphia has from its early days been regarded as 
the leading city in America in medical training. It was 
the pioneer in this field, having the first medical school 
and the first general hospital. It had also the first great 
physician, Dr. Benjamin Rush, often spoken of as "The 
Father of American Medicine." He gained a wide Euro- 
pean reputation, and was the leader in that long line of 
great physicians of which this city can justly boast. 

The first general hospital in this countr^^ began in 
1732, as an infirmary of the almshouse, and remains as 
the Philadelphia Hospital, still in connection with the 
almshouse, the two combined being known as "Blockley." 
It was soon followed by the Pennsylvania Hospital, a 
private institution, dating back to 1751. A Medical 
School was an early feature of the "Academy and Chari- 
table School" that later developed into the University 
of Pennsylvania, and throughout the career of the latter 
its medical department has held high rank in its special 
field of study. Medical Hall, its present center of ac- 
tivity, yields ample room for the work of its professors 
and students. Other related branches of the University 
are the University Hospital, the Gibson Wing for In- 
curables, the Pepper Laboratory of Clinical Medicine, 
the Wistar Institute, containing an elaborate anatomical 
collection, the Medical and Dental Laboratory, the Veteri- 
nary Hall, the Veterinary Hospital, and the Biological 
Hall. The University is thus abundantly provided for 
advanced work in its medical department. 

Next in age and activity to the Medical Department 







MEDICAL BUILDING, UNIVEH.SITY OF I'ENNSYLN AMA 

EVANS DENTAL HALL 

GYMNASIUM, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 



MEDICAL SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, ASYLUMS 89 

of the University is the Jefferson Medical College, estab- 
lished in 1824 by Dr. George McClellan, and reorganized 
in 1838. Both these institutions have had at the head 
of their classes physicians of the highest fame and have 
attracted large classes of students. The Jefferson, situ- 
ated on Tenth, from Walnut to Sansom Street, has of 
late years added largely to its buildings and facilities 
and keeps well up to its old standard. 

The Medico-Chirurgical College, started in a small way 
on Cherry Street west of Seventeenth, has had phenom- 



r 




VETERINARY DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 



enal success, and now ranks among the leading medical 
schools of the country. Its location on the projected 
Parkway will cause a removal of its buildings, but its 
work will be kept up, probably in connection with that 
of the Universit3\ 

The Woman's Medical College, founded in 1850, on 
North College Avenue, has had an able and useful career, 
under the control of distinguished physicians, and, with 
its associated hospital, is a very live institution. Of 
considerably later date is the Medical Department of 
Temple University, founded in 1901. The brief career 
of this institution has been an active and progressive 



90 MEDICAL SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, ASYLUMS 

one, and in the character of its work it is now in hne 
with the older institutions. Still another institution of 
high rank is the Philadelphia Polyclinic and College for 
Graduates in Medicine, founded in 185*2, and now seated 
on Lombard Street, west of Eighteenth. It has attained 
a high standing in its line of post-graduate work, and its 
special services in this field are held to be among the 
best in the world. 

The Hahnemann College. — The leading Homoeo- 
pathic institution in this country is the Hahnemann 
Medical College and Hospital, situated on Broad Street 
above Race, a fine building of modified Gothic archi- 
tecture; the college facing on Broad, the hospital on Fif- 
teenth Street. Organized in 1848, this institution has had 
a prosperous career, and its hospital and dispensary work 
has been active and useful. 

On North Tenth Street, above Arch, is the present 
seat of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, originally 
organized in 1821, and the oldest of its kind in America. 
An important feature is the college museum, in which 
is the largest and finest collection of medicinal plants in 
the country. The institution is largely practical and 
embraces lectures and laboratory work in chemistry, 
pharmacy, materia medica, botany and microscopy. 

Osteopathic College. — The recent system of medical 
practice known as the Osteopathic, one which has shown 
marked indications of progress, is about to be housed in 
the large building at the southwest corner of Nineteenth 
and Spring Garden Streets, the former residence of the 
late Mayor Reyburn. Changes in this edifice, with suit- 
able additions, will adapt it well to the needs of this 
growing school of medicine. 



MEDICAL SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, ASYLUMS 91 

Dental Colleges. — Connected with the University is 
an active College of Dental Surgery, which has been in 
existence for many years and is one of the leading Ameri- 
can colleges in this field. It has graduated many classes 
of well-equipped dental students. The Pennsylvania Col- 
lege of Dental Surgery, organized in 1854, and situated at 
Eleventh and Clinton Streets, is one of the best of 
its kind, its clinical and laboratory opportunities being 
of the first order of excellence. Within recent years it 
has left this locality and become associated with the Jef- 
ferson Medical College. Another dental institution, the 
Philadelphia Dental College, chartered in 1863, and man- 
aged in connection with the Medico-Chirurgical College, 
is located at Eighteenth and Button wood Streets, and is 
now in association with the Temple University. 

The Evans Institute. — Thomas W. Evans, a Phila- 
delphia dentist, became so famous as an expert in his 
art that he was sent for to treat the teeth of the Em- 
peror Napoleon III. His remaining life was spent in 
Paris, where he worked for members of all the royal 
houses of Europe, gaining a fortune of several million 
dollars. He died in 1897, leaving nearly the whole of 
his estate to found a museum and dental institute in 
his native city. The carrying out of this bequest was 
delayed by litigation, but the Institute has been recently 
erected, at Spruce and Fortieth Streets, West Philadel- 
phia. It is a foundation without a rival in its special 
field, and is now under the management of the University 
of Pennsylvania, the dental college of which is within its 
walls. 

College of Physicians. — The institution bearing this 
title is one of the old medical corporations of Philadel- 



92 MEDICAL SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, ASYLUMS 

phia, it having been organized in 1789, the year when 
Washington became President, its purpose being "to ad- 
vance the science of medicine." Many of the foremost 
physicians of the city have been and are included in its 
membership, and at its meetings addresses are dehvered 
and papers read on medical science. It publishes occa- 
sional volumes of Transactions and its medical library 
is the largest and most complete in the United States, 
with the exception of the Surgeon-General's library at 
Washington. There is also a museum of anatomical and 
pathological specimens. Long situated at the corner of 
Thirteenth and Locust Streets (in the building now occu- 
pied by the Public Library of Philadelphia), it removed 
in 1909 to a new and well-designed building on Twenty- 
second above Chestnut Street. In its varied lines of 
activity this institution has no sui)erior. 

Hospitals. — We have spoken of the hospitals con- 
nected with the various medical colleges of the city, also 
of the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Hospitals, and of 
the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane (commonly 
known as "Kirkbride's Hospital"). In addition to these 
are Wills Eye Hospital, organized in 1834, on Race Street 
west of Eighteenth, and the Orthopsedic Hospital, founded 
in 1867, at the corner of Seventeenth and Summer Streets, 
both admirably managed institutions. There are in addi- 
tion a number of hospitals under control of religious sects, 
the oldest of these being St. Joseph's Hospital, founded 
by the Roman Catholic Church, on Girard Avenue, be- 
tween Sixteenth and Seventeenth Streets, in 1848. Others 
under sectarian control are the Episcopalian, Methodist, 
Presbyterian, and Jewish, all flourishing institutions. 

At the corner of Girard and Corinthian Avenues, op- 



MEDICAL SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, ASYLUMS 93 

posite the Girard College grounds, is the German Hos- 
pital, founded in 1860 and one of the most important 
now in the city. 

The above list of medical institutions, to which might 
have been added several others, such as the Rush Hos- 
pital for Consumptives, will serve to show that Phila- 
delphia is very abundantly provided for medical and 
hospital work of every class. It may also be said that 
connected with the hospitals are schools for the training 
of nurses, a large number of whom are now equipped 
for their very useful field of labor. 

Homes and Asylums. — In association with what has 
been said about hospitals, it is advisable to give a brief 
summary of the numerous asylums, homes and charitable 
foundations in Philadelphia. In respect to charity the 
Quaker City has been remarkably active, and we can 
here mention only the more notable of its institutions 
for the benefit and support of the poor and afflicted. 

Much, for instance, has been done for the blind, the 
principal example being the Pennsylvania Institution for 
the Instruction of the Blind, founded in 1833, and long 
situated in ample quarters at Race and Twentieth Streets. 
Its present location is at Overbrook, where it has all nec- 
essary buildings and workshops and spacious grounds. The 
inmates are instructed in the plain branches of an English 
education and in music, and are taught several industries. 

At No. 3518 Lancaster Avenue is the Working Home 
for Blind Men, which has extensi\'e buildings and is 
nearly self-supporting. In the near vicinity is the Penn- 
sylvania Retreat for Blind Mutes and Aged and Infirm 
Blind Persons, said to be "a charity so peculiar that 
its very name is a touching appeal." At the corner of 



94 MEDICAL SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, ASYLUMS 

Powelton and Saunders Avenues, opposite the Presby- 
terian Hospital and the Old Men's Home, is another use- 
ful institution, * the Pennsylvania Industrial Home for 
Blind Women. 

The Deaf and Dumb Asylum, ofhcially named '*the 
Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb," was 
organized in IS'^l, and is the third oldest of its kind in 
the United States. It opened with seven pupils, but now 
numbers its inmates by the hundreds, and has given 
instruction to over five thousand deaf children. It occu- 
pies ample quarters at Mount Airy, to which it removed 
in 189^ from its former location at Broad and Pine 
Streets. The buildings occupy a tract of seventy acres, 
are delightfully situated, commodious, w^ell-lighted and 
thoroughly adapted to their purpose, having accommoda- 
tions for 550 inmates. The managers claim this to be the 
largest and most complete school for the deaf in the world. 

House of Industry. — Interesting for its antiquity is 
the Female Society for the Relief and Employment of 
the Poor, organized in 1795, and usually known as the 
"House of Industry." Long situated at ll'^ North Seventh 
Street, it is now located at Race and Seventh Streets, 
its purpose being to afford sewing for poor old women 
and supply them with food. There is a similar society, 
of later origin, on Catharine near Seventh Street, known 
as the "Southern House of Industry," which provides 
sewing for about one hundred women, gives lodgings, 
with meals and baths, to unemployed men, and performs 
other charitable labors. 

Orphan Asylums. — The Burd Orphan Asylum, on 
Market beyond Sixty-third Street, occupies an attractive 
location, the grounds being forty-five acres in extent. 



MEDICAL SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, ASYLUMS 95 

the buildings of a graceful English Gothic style. The 
asylum, founded in 1848 by Eliza H. Burd, for white 
female orphans, is under the management of the St. 
Stephen's Protestant Episcopal Church, on Tenth below 
Market Street. 

At Sixty-fourth Street and Lansdowne Avenue is the 
Philadelphia Orphan Asylum, occupying commodious and 
beautiful stone buildings, seated in ample grounds, which 
are tastefully cultivated. The orphans are children of 
the poorer classes, but they are happy and well cared 
for, the institution being one of the best managed of 
Philadelphia's public charities. 

At Forty -first and Baring Streets is the Western Home 
for Poor Children, a useful institution with a large and 
comfortable building, situated in spacious and well-kept 
grounds. On Twenty -second below Walnut Street is the 
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, which receives for 
treatment children under twelve years of age. Connected 
with it is a country branch for convalescents, west of 
George's Hill, in the Park. 

Friends' Asylum for the Insane. — This institution, 
founded in 1811, is of interest as being one of the oldest, 
if not quite the oldest, insane asylums in the United 
States. It is situated on Adams Street, Frankford, its 
grounds extending to Frankford Creek. While very plain, 
its building is large and commodious, and it has long 
been active and useful in the care of the mentally deficient. 

Hospital for Incurables. — The Howard Hospital and 
Infirmary for Incurables, situated at Broad and Cath- 
arine Streets, founded in 1854, is an institution of ex- 
cellent aim. Its annual average of patients is about 5,000, 
and more than 300,000 have been treated since its foun- 



96 MEDICAL SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, ASYLUMS 

dation. At the corner of Forty-eighth Street and Wood- 
land Avenue is the Philadelphia Home for Incurables, 
one of the most estimable charities in this City of Broth- 
erly Love. Organized in 1877, its grounds cover about 
five acres. It is undenominational and its management 
largely in the hands of women. 

Another institution of the same character is the Eliza 
Cathcart Home for Incurables, situated in the borough 
of Wayne, and endowed by the late William S. Stroud, 
of the Baldwin Locomotive Works. Near by is a Home 
for Convalescents, both these being under the manage- 
ment of the Presbyterian Hospital. They occupy large 
buildings, excellently adapted to their purpose. 

Among institutions of this character one of the most 
important is the Widener Home for Crippled Children, 
at North Broad Street and Olney Avenue. This is an 
abundantly endowed and splendidly managed asylum, one 
of great usefulness to a special class of unfortunates. 

The Preston Retreat. — A central institution with 
ample grounds and handsome building is the Preston 
Retreat, situated on Hamilton Street and occupying the 
space between Twentieth and Twenty-first Streets. It 
arose from a legacy left by Dr. Jonas Preston in 1836, 
to build and endow a lying-in home for poor married 
women. The building is of white marble, with a stately 
Doric portico, and with the well-shaded grounds is an 
attraction to the neighborhood. There are accommoda- 
tions for about thirty patients. 

Homes. — The Old Ladies' Home of Philadelphia, at 
Wissinoming, on the line of the Pennsylvania Railroad 
to New York, is a non-sectarian institution, the only 
requisites for inmates being "good moral character, quiet 



MEDICAL SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, ASYLUMS 97 

spirit and peaceful behavior." It is an attractive and 
comfortable home. There are in addition a number of 
sectarian homes, including the Christ Church Home, a 
Protestant Episcopal institution; the Presbyterian Home 
for Widows; the Jewish Home, and others. To these 
we may add the Masonic Home, the Odd Fellows' Home, 
the Home for Orphans of Odd Fellows, etc. 

There are also several sectarian homes for aged couples, 
and a non-sectarian one at 1723 Francis Street, also a well- 
kept Home for Aged and Infirm Colored Persons at the 
corner of Forty -fourth Street and Girard Avenue. The 
Old Men's Home, on Powelton and Saunders Avenues, 
has a large and commodious building with well -shaded 
grounds, and everything to furnish comfort to its aged 
inmates. The Indigent Widows' and Single Women's 
Asylum, founded in 1819, occupies a beautiful quadrangle 
of buildings on Chestnut Street near Thirty -sixth. 

In addition may be named the Edwin Forrest Home 
for retired actors, in the former country-seat of the great 
actor, near Holmesburg; the Hayes Mechanics' Home, 
west of Fairmount Park; the Seamen's Friend Society, 422 
South Front Street, and the Church Home for Seamen of 
the Port of Philadelphia, Swanson and Catharine Streets. 

This list of homes and asylums is by no means ex- 
haustive, though it includes the more important of these 
charitable institutions. It is given to show the care 
which Philadelphia takes of the poor and unfortunate. 
This is by no means confined to the providing of homes 
and asylums, for there is an enormous amount of general 
charitable work, efforts at sanitation and prevention of 
contagious disea'ses, and movements towards the more 
comfortable housing of the poverty-stricken. 



98 LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS 



12. Libraries and Museums. 

Philadelphia Library. — This, the oldest subscription 
library in the United States, the outcome in 1731 of the 
Junta Club organized by Benjamin Franklin and his 
friends, is now situated at the corner of Locust and 
Juniper Streets. For nearly a century it occupied a 
building on Fifth Street below Chestnut, its present 
commodious quarters being occupied in 1880. It has 
always been free to the general reading public, and books 
can be taken home on the payment of a small charge. 
The number of volumes approximates 200,000. 

An important branch of this institution is the Ridgway 
Library, a great granite edifice seated in an entire square 
of ground bounded by Broad ana Thirteenth, Christian 
and Carpenter Streets. Here it stands in a kind of soli- 
tary grandeur, out of the range of the reading public, 
and used chiefly as a receptacle for the rarer and less- 
used books of the Philadelphia Library, which, as may 
well be supposed, contains many literary treasures, in- 
cluding the 3,000 books of the Loganian Library and 
others of high value. 

Historical Society. — In the immediate vicinity of 
the Philadelphia Library, at the southwest corner of 
Thirteenth and Locust Streets, is the commodious build- 
ing of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, possess- 
ing a very valuable library devoted in great part to the 
colonial history of the State. Founded in 1824, it occu- 
pied in 1884 its present hall, in which are stored many 
important relics of colonial Pennsylvania. 

Public Library. — Immediately opposite the Historical 



LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS 99 

Society building, occupying the former home of the Col- 
lege of Physicians, is the Public Library of Philadelphia, 
removed here recently from its former location in Con- 
cert Hall, on Chestnut Street. This institution is of 
recent date, being chartered in 1891, as the result of a 
bequest of $150,000 and a share of his residuary estate 
made by George S. Pepper. To the main library have 
been added a large number of well-equipped branches, 
arising under a liberal endowment made by Andrew 
Carnegie, so that its utility is felt in every quarter of 
the city. Its collection of books has grown rapidly, and 
an ample site has been set aside by the city for a splendid 
library building, to be soon erected on the new Parkway, 
on Vine Street between Nineteenth and Twentieth Streets. 

Mercantile Library. — On Tenth Street, between 
Market and Chestnut Streets, is situated the Mercantile 
Library, an institution founded in 1821, and removed 
here in 1869 from its former location at Fifth and Library 
Streets. Its shelves now hold about 200,000 books and 
large numbers of newspapers and periodicals are kept on 
file, while members have the advantage of free access 
to its shelves and a liberal home use of its books. It 
is a well-conducted and well-patronized library, with 
about 3,000 members. 

Apprentices' Library. — This institution, founded in 
1820, "for the use of apprentices and other young per- 
sons, without charge of any kind for the use of books," 
was located for many years in the Free Quakers' meeting- 
house, at Fifth and Arch Streets, but is now more cen- 
trally located at Broad and 'Brandy wine Streets. Here it 
maintains a free reading-room, and a collection of books 
selected with special care for the use of boys and girls. 



100 LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS 

The above are the best-known general Hbraries of Phila- 
delphia, but there are others, of which may be mentioned 
the free library of the City Institute, at Chestnut and 
Eighteenth Streets, and the reference library of the 
Widener Foundation, at Broad Street and Girard Avenue. 

In addition to these libraries of general literature are 
a number of others devoted to special interests, those 
connected with the scientific and other institutions of 
the city. An important one of these is the library of the 
Academy of Natural Sciences, containing some 80,000 
books on science and ranking as one of the most valuable 
of its kind in the country. Physical and practical science 
is the feature of The Franklin Institute librar^^ another 
large collection, and others of which we have already 
spoken are the valuable libraries of the Historical Society, 
the College of Physicians, and the American Philo- 
sophical Society. 

Commercial Museum. — An unique collection, one in 
which Philadelphia stands preeminent, came into being as 
a result of the Chicago Exposition of 1893, many of the 
commercial exhibits of the exposition being donated to 
Dr. W. P. Wilson, who had been appointed director of a 
museum of this character projected in Philadelphia. This 
material and other collections obtained elsewhere were 
exhibited in a large building on South Fourth Street, the 
former office building of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- 
pany. As they comprised material of commercial, eco- 
nomic and educational character, the collection as a whole 
became known as the Philadelphia Museums. It was sub- 
sequently removed to buildings erected on Thirty -fourth 
Street below Spruce, in the vicinity of the University, 
where it is now known as the Commercial Museum. 



LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS 101 

The collections installed here are illustrative of the 
peoples and products of the world. They have been 
largely added to by contributions from other exhibitions, 
gifts from foreign governments, etc., and are now of the 
greatest variety and value. A vast collection of com- 
mercial products and descriptive material has^ been gath- 
ered from many countries of Asia and Africa, the islands 
of the Pacific and the countries of Central and South 
America, including an extensive exhibit of cabinet woods, 
a large display of teas, coffees, spices, tobaccos, wools, 
hairs, hides, cereals, and many other articles of commer- 
cial importance, all of which are freely opened to the 
inspection of merchants who desire to establish lines of 
commerce with these countries. 

The Foreign Trade Bureau does a great work in this 
direction, by its efforts for the extension of foreign trade, 
and a Free Commercial Library is maintained for public 
use. It contains many works of reference which are 
difficult to obtain elsewhere, including journals of trade, 
commerce and finance, consular reports, maps and sur- 
veys from many countries. A large educational work is 
also conducted, including lectures on geographical sub- 
jects and distribution of collections for the aid of teachers. 

University Museum. — This institution, known as the 
Museum of Science and Art, is one of the most important 
and valuable additions to the University of Pennsylvania. 
While in the vicinity of the Commercial Museum, its 
contents are strikingly different. Here are deposited the 
results of explorations to all parts of the world in search 
of archseological material, with a splendid collection of 
other examples in science and aft, as the name of the 
Museum implies. Among its treasures are a Buddhist 



102 LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS 

temple brought from the East and set up in its complete- 
ness, bronze statues of Buddha, and a profusion of other 
interesting material of Oriental and other origin. 

Among the collections made by University expeditions, 
the most valuable to historical science are those obtained 
from the ruined cities of Babylonia, consisting largely of 
cuneiform tablets (clay inscriptions in wedge-shape let- 
ters) found in the excavated libraries of ancient Baby- 
lonian cities. The translation of these very ancient liter- 
ary remains, a work of the greatest difficulty, has added 
largely to our knowledge of the history of the far past. 
While Philadelphia can claim only a share in this labor, 
its share has been a large one, much surpassing that 
achieved in any other American city. 

The annual report for 1915 states that more than $200,- 
000 worth of exhibits had recently been received in the 
Museum, and that a special exhibition of Oriental Art 
would soon be opened in the new rotunda. It was opened 
to public inspection early in 1916, and included the fa- 
mous Morgan collection of Chinese porcelains. The temple 
of Menepthah, in which we are told that Moses studied 
Egyptian, has been uncovered and much of its valuable 
contents packed for shipment, but its conveyance to the 
Museum must await the end of the war. 

Museum of Biology.- — For one of the finest collec- 
tions in its field of research that of the Academy of 
Natural Sciences long stood first in this country, and 
still maintains supremacy in some features. It possesses 
a splendid collection of specimens of birds, quadrupeds, 
insects, plants, minerals, geological material, etc., with 
restorations of fossil animals, and a vast mass of mate- 
rials in all the departments of biology. Its collections of 



LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS 103 

natural history specimens include more than a million 
and a half of shells, 600,000 of dried plants, nearly 400,- 
000 of insects, 130,000 of vertebrates, and examples from 
other fields of natural history in like proportion. It is 
especially notable for the large number of type specimens 
which it contains, the typical examples of new species 
first named and described by the eminent naturalists 
who have been associated with the Academy. 

National Museum. — An interesting museum of his- 
toric treasures has been collected in State House Row, 
at first displayed in the room opposite Independence 
Hall, now placed in the connecting buildings of the Row. 
Here are shown dresses and other personal belongings of 
Revolutionary heroes, while the Hall itself contains an 
unique collection of portraits of members of the Conti- 
nental Congress and other personages ^of Revolutionary 
fame, the chairs in which the members sat, and other 
articles of great historical interest. 

Pennsylvania Museum. — Connected with the School 
of Industrial Art is the Pennsylvania Museum, to be 
seen in Memorial Hall, the Art Gallery of the Centennial 
Exposition. In this fine building is displayed a precious 
collection of art objects in the greatest variety. So nu- 
merous and interesting are they that one might well spend 
days among them without tiring. In this hall is also the 
costly Wilstach collection of paintings, to be spoken of 
later. 

There are other museum collections, in varied fields of 
research, to be seen in Philadelphia, but those mentioned 
will suffice to give a general idea of the city's wealth in 
collections of divers kinds. 



104 INSTITUTIONS OF SCIENCE AND ART 



13. Academies and Institutions of Science and Art. 

American Philosophical Society. — When Benjamin 
Franklin, in his earhest days in Philadelphia, organized 
his friends into a club for reading and discussion, he laid 
the foundations alike of the Philadelphia Library and of 
the pioneer scientific society in America, the American 
Philosophical Society. Franklin's Junta Club, founded 
in 1731, was given the above title in 1743, and emerged 
in its present form in 1769 from the union of two earlier 
societies. Its original purpose was to extend the knowl- 
edge of the useful arts. It is now devoted solely to scien- 
tific subjects. 

Its building, on Fifth Street below Chestnut, adjoin- 
ing the old City Hall, was erected in 1787 on ground 
donated to the Society by the Commonwealth and con- 
stituting part of Independence Square. In this it has col- 
lected a large and valuable scientific library. Its presidents 
have included such notable men as Benjamin Franklin, 
David Rittenhouse, Thomas Jefferson, Stephen Duponceau, 
etc., while its membership has embraced many of the 
most prominent citizens of Philadelphia and elsewhere. 
Its volumes of "Transactions" and "Proceedings," in 
which are printed the discussions in its halls on philo- 
sophical and scientific subjects, are highly regarded in the 
world of science. The American Philosophical Society is 
much the oldest institution of its kind in America, while 
Europe possesses few of older date, and it still maintains 
much of its old distinction. 

Academy of Natural Sciences. — Next in antiquity 
to the above-mentioned institution, though dating much 



INSTITUTIONS OF SCIENCE AND ART 105 

later, is the Academy here named. Founded in a humble 
way in 1812, it is the oldest of its kind in America and 
for more than a century has been adding to the value of 
its collections and its usefulness. After occupying sev- 
eral localities, it removed in 1876 to its present site, at 
the southwest corner of Nineteenth and Race Streets. 
Here it has gradually increased in area, extending south- 
ward to Cherry Street, and now possesses a handsome 
and commodious group of buildings, offering every facil- 
ity to the work and study carried on within its walls. Of 
its superb museum and library we have already spoken, 
and it need only be said further that in some fields of biol- 
ogy its collections hold a very high rank, while its library 
is considered the most complete, in its field of natural 
history, in the United States. 

Lectures are given weekly, in connection with the Lud- 
wick Institute, during much of the year, while its "Trans- 
actions" and "Journal" contain the results of study of 
its abundant contributions and exploration collections, 
made by its corps of professors in the several branches of 
the natural sciences. Its annual contributions to the lit- 
erature of science are large and valuable, and important 
scientific work goes on within its walls. 

Franklin Institute. — Another of the older scientific 
institutions of Philadelphia, The Franklin Institute, was 
founded in 1824, its purpose being the promotion of the 
mechanic arts. Its building on Seventh Street, between 
Market and Chestnut, is a plain marble edifice, one that 
has become too small for its manifold activities. Since 
its foundation this institution has been a center of active 
work in public instruction, its lecturers comprising many 
of the ablest experts in physical science in the country, 



106 INSTITUTIONS OF SCIENCE AND ART 

its lecture hall being well patronized, and its library one 
of high value in its special field. Since 1826 it has pub- 
lished "The Journal of The Franklin Institute," in which 
many papers of great importance have appeared. Its 
annual courses of lectures, its drawing-schools, and its 
publications have made it the foremost institution of its 
kind in this country. It has also given from time to time 
exhibitions of American manufactures which have at- 
tracted wide attention. A new site for this important 
institution has been selected on the Parkway, opposite 
that occupied b}^ the Academy of Natural Sciences, one 
that will enable it to erect a building much better adapted 
to its needs and the desired extension of the scope of its 
activities. 

Wagner Institute. — The Wagner Free Institute of 
Science, situated at Seventeenth Street and Montgomery 
Avenue, was founded and endowed by William W'agner, 
who had made extensive voyages in the service of Stephen 
Girard, during which he developed a strong interest in the 
natural sciences. He began to lecture upon this subject in 
1847. The Institute was incorporated in 1855, lectures 
being given at first in Commissioners' Hall, Thirteenth 
and Spring Garden Streets. He subsequently erected the 
present Institute building, in which lectures have been 
deHvered since 1865. There is a lecture hall capable of 
seating about 600 persons, which is equipped with excel- 
lent lecture facilities. The Institute equipment also in- 
cludes a museum containing illustrative specimens in all 
branches of natural science, and a well-filled reference 
library. In 1901 a wing was added for the use of a branch 
of the Philadelphia Free Library. Instruction in Engi- 
neering, Physics, Geology, Chemistr^^ Zoology and 



INSTITUTIONS OF SCIENCE AND ART 107 

Botany is given in courses of lectures by competent pro- 
fessors, each course covering four years, and certificates 
of proficiency given those who pass the examinations. 

Three other scientific societies hold their meetings in 
the Institute lecture hall: the Philadelphia Natural His- 
tory Society; the Philadelphia Mineralogical Society; and 
the Wagner Institute Society of Chemistry and Physics. 

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. — The insti- 
tution bearing this title, on Broad Street north of Spruce, 
was founded in 1827, and is, like so many Philadelphia 
enterprises, the first of its kind in this country. The 
Hall is used periodically for exhibitions of the floral tri- 
umphs of the amateur and professional horticulturists of 
the city and its vicinity, which are shown here in a way 
to niake them a delight to lovers of flow^ers. Its annual 
chrysanthemum shows in November are special occasions 
in which beauty of floral growth runs rampant. The soci- 
ety has had the misfortune to have its building twice 
burned down, a third edifice now standing on its site. 

Academy of the Fine Arts. — In The Pennsylvania 
Academy of the Fine Arts we possess another of the older 
institutions of the city, one dating back to 1805, and into 
which have been swept art accumulations for more than 
a century. Its first building stood on Chestnut Street west 
of Tenth, and in this began its annual exhibitions, which 
have continued for the greater part of a century and have 
been occasions of high satisfaction to art-loving Phila- 
delphians. Its present building, at the corner of Broad 
and Cherry Streets, completed in 1876, presents on Broad 
Street a striking fagade in the Venetian style of archi- 
tecture, composed of a central tower and two slightly- 
recessed wings. Over the entrance is shrined a mutilated 



108 INSTITUTIONS OF SCIENCE AND ART 

antique statue of the goddess Ceres. The building is 
practically fireproof, very little wood having been used 
in its construction. Interiorly it is highly attractive in 
architectural effect, and within it has been gathered one 
of the most extensive and, historically considered, the 
most interesting collection of paintings and other art 
objects in the United States. 

In the extended galleries are displayed several hundred 
oil paintings, representing many of the most capable of 
American and foreign artists and numbers of them of high 
artistic value. In addition there are numerous bronzes, 
marbles and other works of statuary, a large number of 
casts from the antique, and thousands of engravings. 
These constitute the permanent collection, but the Acad- 
emy gives besides annual exhibitions of the works of con- 
tributory artists, while special loan exhibitions have been 
occasionally made, generally from the private galleries of 
wealthy citizens. Annually choice paintings are purchased 
from the artists' displays and are added to the permanent 
collection. This contains many notable paintings, includ- 
ing such as West's "Death on the Pale Horse"; Wilt- 
kamp's "Deliverance of Leyden": Vanderlyn's "Ariadne 
of Naxos" ; Bouguereau's " Orestes Pursued by the Furies, " 
and others of equal note, with various striking works of 
sculpture. 

In addition to its treasures of art the Academy con- 
ducts an art school which is looked upon as the most 
important in America and in which have studied such 
eminent artists as Redfield, Abbey, Kenyon Cox, Joseph 
Pennell, Colin Cooper, Cecilia Beaux, Mary Cassatt, 
Violet Oakley and Jesse Willcox Smith. Several exhi- 
bitions of students' work are given during the season. 



INSTITUTIONS OP^ SCIENCE AND ART 109 

WiLSTACH Art Gallery. — In Memorial Hall, in Fair- 
mount Park, is to be seen another notable collection of 
paintings, a bequest to the city of William P. Wilstach, 
a former art-loving merchant of Philadelphia. This con- 
tains a large number of attractive paintings, and possesses 
an endowment which has been judiciously used in adding 
to the collection, numerous examples of mediaeval art 
having been purchased. Its exhibition in this hall is 
temporary, as a great gallery of art is projected in which 
this collection will serve as a nucleus. 

The Art Club, 220 South Broad Street, has a large 
gallery in which annual exhibitions of recent works of 
art are given. These are of high interest to lovers of the 
fine arts and are numerously attended. 



no PLACES OF AMUSEMENT 



14. Places of Amusement in Philadelphia. 

Academy of Music. — While the older places of amuse- 
ment, the theatres and other centers of entertainment of 
early date, have practically vanished, the American Acad- 
emy of Music, built in 1856, at the corner of Broad and 
Locust Streets, still holds its own as one of the most 
notable American temples of song and music. It has 
long been regarded as intrinsically the finest music-hall 
in America, and this reputation it seems likely to main- 
tain. It has seats for nearly 3,000 persons and possesses 
a stage ninety feet wide by seventy-two and a half feet 
deep, affording abundant opportunity for the spectacular 
staging of elaborate operatic and dramatic entertainments, 
while its superior acoustic properties make it a favorite 
with both actors and audiences. Here the brightest stars 
of the operatic and dramatic stage have long delighted 
fashionable and enthusiastic audiences, and all the great 
operas of the world have been brilliantly staged before 
crowded gatherings. 

The Academy has been brought into use for various 
other purposes than that embraced in its title, as for illus- 
trated lectures, mass-meetings called for various pur- 
poses, concerts, and in fact for all important occasions in 
Philadelphia where a hall capable of seating a large au- 
dience and possessed of good carrying power for the voice 
was needed. Here during the *'seaso|i" the favorite 
Philadelphia Orchestra has its concerts, and here the sing- 
ing societies of the city are at intervals to be heard. 

Metropolitan Opera House. — Not until recently has 
Philadelphia had any building fitted to compete with the 



PLACES OF AMUSEMENT 



111 



Academy in these special fields, but it now has a rival in 
the handsome Metropolitan Opera House, at Broad and 
Poplar Streets, whose great auditorium and foyer are 
nowhere surpassed for beauty or effectiveness. Here the 
great opera singers of the world have been heard in recent 
years in operatic performances every season, while the 
Metropolitan, like the Academy, has been used for vari- 
ous public meetings and other purposes, the size of its 
auditorium, capable of holding larger audiences than 
the Academy, adding to its ...^J^ utility for these 

varied uses. Farther y^^^SI^^^. north 

Broad Street, at 
the corner 



o n 




METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE 



of Montgomery Avenue, is the Grand Opera House, a 
large and comfortable place of amusement and long a 
favorite resort for the lovers of light opera at moderate 
cost, though of late years largely given over to minor 
forms of entertaijiment. 

The Musical Fund Hall, on Locust Street west of 
Eighth, was once one of the most fashionable concert 
rooms in Philadelphia, and is second to none in the excel- 
lence of its acoustic properties. But the character of its 



11*2 PLACES OF AMUSEMENT 

vicinity has greatl}^ changed and the fashionable world 
has drifted away from its precincts. 

Theatres. ^The old theatres of Philadelphia, those 
coming down from colonial or early national days, have 
disappeared or gone out of service, with the exception of 
the Walnut Street Theatre. Of recent years a series of 
new theatres have come into being, including the Garrick, 
1330 Chestnut Street; the Forrest, Broad and Sansom; the 
Broad Street, 223 South Broad; the Adelphia and the Lyric, 
Broad and Cherry, and the Little Theatre, Seventeenth 
and DeLancey Streets. In all these good plays are to be 
seen, but the recent great vogue of the vaudeville, photo- 
play, and moving-picture shows has for the time being 
proved disastrous to the legitimate drama. This, how- 
ever, may prove but temporary. It seems unlikely that 
the dramatic performance, after its centuries of prosperity, 
will vanish before these new aspirants for public favor. 

Of vaudeville theatres, among the best known are 
Keith's, Chestnut west of Eleventh Street; William Penn, 
Fairmount and Lancaster Avenues; Nixon, Fifty-second 
below Market, and the Palace, 1212 Market Street. The 
photoplay, now of such high popularity, has taken posses- 
sion of the Chestnut Street Opera House and made its ap- 
pearance at some of the other theatres, as the Garrick and 
Forrest, while a dozen or two new houses have sprung up 
in various parts of the city for its display, not to speak 
of the low-priced "movie" shows of minor significance. 

Other places of amusement we have already spoken of 
are the Willow Grove and Woodside Parks, Franklin Field, 
the University athletic grounds, Shibe Park, at Twenty- 
first Street and Lehigh Avenue, and National League 
Ball Park, at Fifteenth and Huntingdon Streets, the much- 



PLACES OF AMUSEMENT 113 

patronized abiding places of professional base-ball. At 
Point Breeze Park motorcycle races and other amusements 
may be seen, and there are annual horse shows at Devon, 
Bryn Mawr, and St. Martin's, Chestnut Hill, where may 
be seen and enjoyed the finest horses and the best riding 
and driving events. A Motor Speedway is also being 
prepared at Warminster, near Willow Grove, which it is 
proposed to make the largest and fastest automobile 
track in the world. Great grandstands, an immense 
stadium, and a fully equipped club-house are among its 
special features, and the two-mile track promises to be- 
come one of the principal automobile racing centers of 
the country. 

The Mummers' Parade. — Philadelphia has among its 
amusements one absolutely unique, not only in American 
cities, but in all cities. The only approach to it in this 
country is the New Orleans carnival, but that is an out- 
come of a European merry-making «event, while the 
Mummers' Parade is native to the soil, a most un-Quaker- 
like outgrowth of the Quaker City. 

Years ago this celebration began, in the semi-detached 
"Neck" of the southwest city area. The people of that 
locality fell into the habit of making New Year visits to 
one another's houses, often in outre costume, while they 
partook freely of liquid refreshment as a form of hospi- 
tality. Clubs of "New Year Shooters" grew out of these 
impromptu visits, parading at first in the streets of their 
section, to shoot out the old and shoot in the New Year, 
and afterward making their way to the main city, where 
they excited much curiousity and amusement. Such was 
the humble origin of what has grown to be a genuine 
Philadelphia ' ' institution . ' ' 



114 PLACES OF AMUSEMENT 

In the Mummers' Parade of the present day thousands 
of these merrymakers take part, divided into varied clubs, 
Fome dressed in the most showy and costly costumes 
they can procure, others attired in the most ridiculous 
and comical they can imagine. Emulation is excited by 
prizes offered by the city and by merchants of special 
sections for the most showy and the most laughable clubs, 
also for the best-dressed and the funniest-dressed partici- 
pants, while the city turns out en masse to behold the 
quaint and curious conceptions in attire and character 
that have been devised during the year's incubation. 
The music, the street dancing and capering, the laughter 
and shouts of approval, the general merry upheaval of 
maskers and spectators, make the occasion a carnival 
season of a new type, and in respect to this unique cele- 
bration Philadelphia occupies a niche of her own. 



THE CITY'S CENTRAL DISTRICT 115 



15. The City's Central District. 

William Penn, Philadelphia's far-seeing founder, hit 
the mark well in one particular. The area selected by 
him as the city's center, that surrounding his ''Center 
Square" at Broad and Market Streets, continues the 
business and official section of Philadelphia, that around 
which swirls the great whirlpool of its mercantile and its 
other activities aside from those of manufacture. From 
this area spreads out the great residential district for 
miles to the north, south and west, bridging the Schuyl- 
kill at various points and constituting a practically new 
city in West Philadelphia. 

If the builders of the great City Hall supposed that it 
would dominate the situation, rising in broad dignity 
far above the surrounding edifices, they sadly miscalcu- 
lated. To-day it stands midway among a swarm of sky- 
scrapers, these overtopped only by its lofty tower, and 
devoted to offices, banks, hotels, clubs, department stores, 
and other purposes. The streets between it and the Del- 
aware — Chestnut, Market, Arch and Walnut — are the 
seats of the great mercantile houses, the busy shopping 
and wholesale districts, while the western sections of 
these streets are taken up by business houses of varied 
character. Broad Street, south and north, has become a 
highly important section of the city's growth, and from 
his lofty perch on the top of the great City Hall tower 
the bronze William Penn looks down in pride on the 
great active swirl of the city beneath his feet. 

The buildings occupying this district do not need to be 
separately described. As a rule there is nothing about 



116 THE CITY'S CENTRAL DISTRICT 

them calling for special comment. But of some of the 
more interesting of them mention may here be made, 
while several of the others will be spoken of later. 

GiRARD Trust Company. — Architecturally much the 
most notable of these buildings is that of the Girard Trust 
Company, a striking structure standing at the northwest 
corner of Broad and Chestnut Streets. Instead of mount- 
ing monotonously into the air, it is a low-domed building 
of classic design, with rows of Ionic columns on its Chest- 
nut and Broad Street fronts, being one of those examples 
of perfect design which gave Stanford White his fame as 
an architect. Philadelphia has no building of recent date 
which has been more admired. 

Masonic Temple. — Facing the north side of the City 
Hall stands the ornate Masonic Temple, within and with- 
out a splendid example of architectural design and finish. 
The corner-stone laid with appropriate ceremonies in 
1868, it was completed and dedicated in 1873, at a cost 
of over $1,500,000. This home of Free-Masonry is a 
stately granite edifice of pure Norman architecture, 150 
feet in breadth by 250 feet in length, its side elevation 
being ninety-five feet. A tower 250 feet high rises at the 
main corner, with minor towers and turrets at other points. 

While finely proportioned and massive exteriorly, its 
interior is divided into a series of large and imposing 
lodge rooms, of which the Norman, the Ionic and the 
Egyptian Halls are superbly decorated. Others of much 
beauty are the Corinthian, the Renaissance, the Gothic 
and the Oriental Halls, while the richly appointed Ban- 
quet Hall and the Grand-Master's apartments are other 
features of great beauty and significance. This magnifi- 
cent temple is the only one in the world exclusively de- 



THE CITY'S CENTRAL DISTRICT 



117 




MASONIC TEMPLE 



an interesting exam- 
ple of architecture 
in the Lu Lu Temple, 
the meeting-place of 
a society which, 
while distinct from 
the Masonic, takes 
only Free-Masons 
into m e m b e r s h i p . 
Its architectural in- 
terest lies in the fact 
that it is a striking 
example of Arabic or 



voted to Ma- 
sonic purposes, 
and is said to 
have no equal 
among Mason- 
ic Temples for 
grandeur of 
dimensions and 
artistic beauty 
of decoration. 
Lu Lu Tem- 
ple. — Farther 
north,on Spring 
Garden Street 
near Broad, is 




LU LU TEMPLE 



118 THE CITY'S CENTRAL DISTRICT 

Saracenic architecture, with the peculiar domes, arches and 
other features of this Oriental order. This fact gives it a 
distinctiveness of its own in a city of the Occident. 

The First Regiment Armory. — In the same vicinity, 
at Broad and Callowhill Streets, is another interesting 
example of architecture, that of the castellated Gothic 
structure of the armory of the First Regiment of Penn- 
sylvania National Guards. The main entrance on Broad 
Street is flanked by two towers 120 feet in height, and 
within is a drill-room of large dimensions. 

The Curtis Building. — The edifice bearing this name 
is of interest from the fact that it probably issues a greater 
volume of literary material of the periodical order than 
any other building in the world, and is one of the city's 
show-places. Occupying the entire square from Sixth to 
Seventh Street, and from Walnut to Sansom, and rising 
to a height of ten stories, it issues the "Saturday Evening 
Post," the "Ladies' Home Journal" and the "Country 
Gentleman," while the "Public Ledger" daily is also 
issued by the firm. The two first named of these issues 
have immense circulations. 

The J. B. Lippincott Company. — Washington Square 
has become notable of late years as a sort of "Prin ting- 
House Square," a number of publishing houses being 
gathered around it. Chief among these is that of the 
J. B. Lippincott Company, located on the east side of 
the square. This has been for many years one of the 
principal publishing houses of the United States, and for 
a long time was the leading bookstore in Philadelphia, in 
its former location on Market, east of Eighth Street. It 
is now limited to publishing, and has on its list a large 
number of standard books of reference, which have been 



THE CITY'S CENTRAL DISTRICT 119 

absolute needs to several generations of business and lit- 
erary men. 

The city's central district contains many other impor- 
tant buildings of historical or other interest, but the most 
of these have already been spoken of under other headings. 
Among the older institutions not spoken of is the Phila- 
delphia Dispensary, a charity now considerably more 
than a century old, as it was established in 1786. It is 
the oldest of its kind in the United States. The present 
building, 127 South Fifth Street, was erected in 1801. An- 
other eighteenth- century institution, the Episcopal Acad- 
emy, at 1324 Locust Street, one of the leading preparatory 
schools in this city, was founded in 1785, and chartered 
by the Pennsylvania legislature in 1787. 

Of other important edifices may be named that of the 
Young Men's Christian Association, long at Fifteenth and 
Chestnut Streets, now occupying a commodious building 
on Arch Street west of Broad, and one of the most notable 
of the many homes of this association in the United 
States. It offers numerous advantages to young men 
seeking residence in or visiting this cit}^ 

Y^oung women similarly making their homes in Phila- 
delphia have equal advantages in the Young Women's 
Christian Association, at Eighteenth and Arch Streets, a 
building covering a wide area and nine stories in height. 
It has for its object "the temporal, moral, and religious 
welfare of women, especially young women, who are de- 
pendent upon their own exertions for support, " and who 
may find a home here at low rates of board, one oft'ering 
homelike accommodations. 



120 CLUBS, HOTELS, CHURCHES, CEMETERIES 



16. Clubs, Hotels, Churches and Cemeteries. 

The State in Schuylkill. — Among the many clubs 
of the Quaker City is one httle known to Philadelphians 
in general, yet well worthy of mention as the oldest purely 
social organization still existing in the United States, if 
not in the world. Instituted as long ago as 1732 as a 
fishing-club, under the name of Colony in Schuylkill, the 
name of State in Schuylkill was adopted by this society 
after the Revolution, and by this it remains known. For 
nearly a century it made its home at Egglesfield, on the 
west bank of the Schuylkill River, above where Girard 
Avenue bridge now stands, but in 1822, when the Fair- 
mount dam was built, it was removed to Rambo's Rock, 
on the lower stretch of the river. It is at present located 
at Eddington, above Andalusia, on the Delaware, the old 
castle and kitchen having been carefully taken down and 
rebuilt. The members, limited to twenty-five in num- 
ber, now constitute a dining club, doing their own cook- 
ing. They possess many relics of the early days of the 
club, including two great pewter platters presented by a 
member of the Penn family. 

Of modern clubs the city has an abundant supply. The 
oldest and most exclusive of them is the Philadelphia 
Club, founded great part of a century ago, and still occu- 
pying its plain old brick hall at Thirteenth and Walnut 
Streets. Its membership has included many of the lead- 
ing citizens of Philadelphia, no citizens except members 
being allowed to visit it. The Rittenhouse Club, 1811 
Walnut Street, resembles it in character and may be 
regarded as its offspring. 



UNION LEAGUE 



ment with men and 
money in the crises 
of that period. The 
club building, situ- 
ated at the southwest 
corner of Broad and 
Sanson! Streets, has 
of late years been 
greatly extended, a 
large addition being 
built on Fifteenth 
Street with a hand- 
some auditorium. 

In this localit}^ are 
several other club 



at 



i^i'fil 




The Un- 
ion League 
is another 
of the older 
clubs, dat- 
ing back to 
the opening 
years of the 
bivil War, 
w^hen it won 
wide repute 
by its firm 
support of 
llieGovern- 




MANUFACTURERS CLUB 



122 CLUBS, HOTELS, CHURCHES, CEMETERIES 

buildings, including the tall and handsome new building 
of the Manufacturers' Club at Broad and Walnut Streets, 
and the Art Club, 220 South Broad Street, noted for the 
works of art which it contains and its annual fine-art ex- 
hibitions. The Clover and the Five-o'Clock clubs, dining 
organizations, meet in the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, at 
Broad and Walnut, as also the Contemporary Club, 
organized for discussion of timel}^ topics. 

Various other clubs meet in this central section of the 
city, prominent among which are the Penn Club, which 
has long entertained distinguished visitors to the cit}^; 
the Pen and Pencil, Plastic, and other clubs composed of 
artists; the Franklin Inn Club, made up of literary men; 
the New Century and Acorn clubs, of women active in 
civic affairs; the University Club, whose name indicates 
the source of its membership; the City Club, with a 
clientele devoted to political reform; the Mask and Wig 
Club, of genial merrymakers, and the Poor Richard 
Club, comprising the leading advertising men of Phila- 
delphia, 

Of up-town societies, two of note are the Mercantile 
Club, on Broad above Master, a large and striking edi- 
fice, with very handsome interior decorations, and the 
Columbia Club, at Broad and Oxford Streets, one of the 
handsomest club buildings in the city. Of suburban 
clubs there are several devoted to cricket, and the Phila- 
delphia Country Club, near Bala, organized by lovers of 
horsemanship and rural sports. 

In this connection may be mentioned the Philadelphia 
Geographical Society, a very active institution which 
holds its meetings and gives frequent illustrated lectures 
in Witherspoon Hall, at Walnut and Juniper Streets, 



CLUBS, HOTELS, CHURCHES, CEMETERIES 123 

within which building it has gathered a valuable library 
devoted to geography and travel. 

Hotels. — Among the prominent hotels of the city the 
Continental, at Ninth and Chestnut Streets, dates fur- 
thest back, it having been the leading liouse of enter- 
tainment in Civil War times, the one of which all 
notable visitors to the city were then guests or patrons. 
Though thrown into the shade by more pretentious 
houses of recent date, it is still well patronized by the 
more sedate class of travellers. 

Broad Street is the abiding place of several of the lead- 
ing recent hotels, chief among them being the Bellevue- 
Stratf ord and the Ritz-Carlton, on opposite corners . of 
Broad and Walnut Streets, the former being the abiding 
place of the most prominent travellers and the seat of the 
chief hotel "events." Others of quieter character in the 
same vicinity are the Walton (Broad and Locust) and 
the Stenton (Broad and Spruce). Most recent of Phila- 
delphia's hotels is the handsome Adelphia, at Chestnut 
and Thirteenth Streets. 

Other prominent hotels include the St. James, Walnut 
and Thirteenth; the Vendig, Filbert and Thirteenth; the 
Windsor, 1217 Filbert; Green's, Chestnut and Eighth; 
Bingham, Market and Eleventh; Hanover, Arch and 
Twelfth; Colonnade, Chestnut and Fifteenth, and Majes- 
tic, Broad and Girard Avenue. The last two are conducted 
on both the American and European plans, the others on 
the European only. Among those not above mentioned 
may be named the Aldine, a comfortable family hotel on 
Chestnut near Twentieth. 

Of roof gardens, attractive ones are those on the Adel- 
phia, the Continental, the Bingham and the Bellevue- 
Stratford, the last named being open all the year. 



124 CLUBS, HOTELS, CHURCHES, CEMETERIES 

Churches. — We have named the famous old churches, 
including the Old Swedes', Trinity, Christ Church, St. 
Peter's and St. Paul's. Of modern ones the largest and 
most striking in architectural effect is the Roman Catholic 
Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, on Eighteenth Street, 
facing Logan Square. This is an imposing brown-stone 
edifice, with a front on the street 136 feet high, faced 
by a portico of four massive columns sixty feet high. 
The rear is surmounted by a dome fifty-one feet in diam- 
eter and with an extreme height of 210 feet. Internally 
the Cathedral presents a very attractive aspect, with 
its paintings, stained-glass windows, and other orna- 
mentations. 

The old churches above named are not the only ones 
of remote continental date. The First Presbyterian, at 
Seventh and Locust Streets, represents a congregation 
organized in 1698, and the organization of the Second 
Presbyterian, now at Twenty-first and Walnut Streets, 
dates back to 1743. St. James's Church, on Woodland 
Avenue near Sixty-eighth Street, now Episcopalian, is 
one of the old Swedish Lutheran churches, the present 
edifice (later enlarged) being built in 1763. It is an 
interesting example of Colonial architecture. 

Of Protestant Episcopal churches, the most notable edi- 
fice is that of the Holy Trinity, at Nineteenth and Walnut 
Streets, facing Rittenhouse Square. It is a brown-stone 
Gothic structure, ,its tower 150 feet high. It presents a 
fine example of the approved style of church architecture 
half a century ago. 

We cannot undertake to describe all the Philadelphia 
churches of attractive or imposing architectural effects, 
and shall name but two others. Grace Baptist Church, 



CLUBS, HOTELS, CHURCHES, CEMETERIES 125 

at Broad and Berks Streets, locally known as "The Tem- 
ple," is one of the largest, most elaborate and most costly 
places of worship in the United States. It has seats for 
over 3,000 people. Developed by the enterprise of its 
pastor. Rev. Russell H. Conwell, is Temple University, 
a very active educational institution at low prices for 
tuition, and the Samaritan Hospital, which has also grown 
into a highly useful institution. Bethany Presbyterian 
Church, at Twenty-second and Bainbridge Streets, has 
also had a rapid growth, and has seats for 2,000 persons. 
Its Sunday-school, of which Mr. John Wanamaker is 
superintendent, is claimed to be the largest in membership 
in the world. 

Cemeteries. — Laurel Hill, one of the oldest and most 
celebrated of American suburban cemeteries, was opened 
in 1825. It' is situated on the sloping and wooded bank 
of the Schuylkill, in a natural site of great beauty, the 
charms of which have been improved by the work of 
the landscape gardener. It lies just below the Falls of 
Schuylkill, on the line of the Ridge Avenue trolley cars. 
The elegance, variety and richness of its monumental 
work add much to its 'beauty, and the names of many 
eminent dead are engraved upon its tombs. Farther 
north, on the opposite side of the Schuylkill, is the ceme- 
tery of West Laurel Hill, also a beautiful and well-kept 
resting-place for the dead. 

Woodlands, another notable cemetery, lies along Wood- 
land Avenue, south of the University of Pennsylvania 
grounds, reaching nearly to the Schuylkill in its southern 
section, and embracing about eighty acres. It contains 
a large number of handsome monuments. 

On North Broad Street, opposite "The Temple," is 



126 CLUBS, HOTELS, CHURCHES, CEMETERIES 

Monument Cemetery, so named from its fine monuments 
to the memory of Washington and Lafayette. It extends 
back to Sixteenth Street, Fifteenth Street having been 
cut through. Another large and beautiful cemetery in 
this part of the city is Mount Peace, owned by the Odd 
Fellows, who have also another cemetery farther south. 
Mount Vernon, another of the cemeteries in this region, 
contains some splendid examples of monumental work. 
In the section formerly known as Hestonville, along 
Girard Avenue, and extending from Forty-eighth to Fifty- 
second Street, is the extensive Cathedral Cemetery, a 
Roman Catholic burying ground, containing a large num- 
ber of monumental shafts and many attractive examples 
of sculptural work. There are many other burial places 
that might be named, as Mount Moriah on Woodland 
Avenue, but those given are among the best known. 



GREAT INDUSTRIAL PLANTS 127 



17. Great Industrial Plants of Philadelphia. 

The leading manufacturing interests of Philadelphia 
have been spoken of in a general way, but a fuller de- 
scription of these enormous plants, some of which leaa 
the world in output, is desirable. We shall, therefore, 
speak here at more length concerning the immense in- 
dustrial enterprises of this city, America's manufacturing 
metropolis, the "City of a Thousand Trades," and the 
"City of Ten Thousand Mills," both of which titles have 
been aptly applied to it. 

Baldwin's. — Most famous and the most widely known 
among the industries of Philadelphia is the Baldwin Loco- 
motive Works, an enormous plant which has shown itself 
capable of supplying many foreign countries with traction 
engines. This great establishment was founded by Mat- 
thias W. Baldwin in 1831, shortly after effective locomotives 
had been invented in England. It started in a very humble 
way, in a small shop in which it took nearly a year to 
build the first locomotive. From one in a year, eight in 
a day has become the output capacity. 

"Old Ironsides," Baldwin's pioneer locomotive, weighed 
about four and a half tons and was capable of hauling 
tw^o 50-ton coal cars on a straight level track. Locomo- 
tives are now built weighing over 250 tons, and with a 
hauling capacity of about 8,000 tons, or a train of more 
than one hundred' 50- ton coal cars. 

The Baldwin shop at Broad and Buttonwood Streets 
was built in 1834, extending half way back to Fifteenth 
Street. It now has spread over a wide district in this 
locality, its buildings within the city limits covering about 



1^8 GREAT INDUSTRIAL PLANTS 

twenty acres. In addition a new and extensive plant has 
been built at Eddystone, on the Delaware, near Chester, 
the area here occupied being 225 acres. The works at 
present employ over 19,000 men and have a capacity of 
2,500 complete locomotives a year. The works at Eddy- 
stone are now largely employed in producing war muni- 
tions for use in the great European conflict. 

Cramps'.— Another great industrial establishment, the 
name of which is widely known, is Cramps' Shipyard, 
the most important of its kind in America, and most prom- 
inent among those that have given the Delaware the title 
of "The Clyde of America." The seat of this great estab- 
lishment is in Kensington, where it was founded in 1830 
by ^Villiam Cramp, its origin being nearly contemporary 
with the Baldwin enterprise. The dry-dock and marine 
railway of this extensive shipbuilding plant are on Beach 
Street, between Ball and Palmer Streets, while the main 
yard extends along the river front from Plum to York 
Street, covering an extensive tract of ground. Here 
have been built several of the largest warships of the 
United States Navy and of the huge ocean steamships of 
the International Navigation Company. This great estab- 
lishment, which employ's in all about 5,000 hands, has few 
compeers on either side of the Atlantic. Its list of vessels 
numbers nearly 450. 

The New York Shipbuilding Company, founded in 
1898 at Gloucester, on the New Jersey side of the Dela- 
ware, opposite the southern section of Philadelphia, is 
practically one of the industries of this city, and has 
grown rapidly in capacity until it has become a rival of 
the Cramps' yard. Several of the dreadnoughts of our 
new navy have been built there, and it has aided effec- 



GREAT INDUSTRIAL PLANTS 129 

tively in giving the Delaware its fame in shipbuilding. 
On a smaller scale are the yards in South Philadelphia, 
Chester and Wilmington, all within the Philadelphia 
metropolitan district. It is not improbable that the 
United States Government may establish a plant of its 
own at League Island. 

MiDVALE Steel Works. — Philadelphia ranks high in 
all kinds of iron and steel construction. In addition to 
locomotives and steel ships, machinery of all kinds is 
produced. One of its great metal manufacturing plants 
is that of the Midvale Steel Works, in the old Nicetown 
district of North Philadelphia. Within recent years 
this plant has expanded to large proportions and has come 
into active competition with the armor-plate works of 
Bethlehem and Pittsburgh. It deals largely also in pro- 
jectiles, and ranks among Pennsylvania's leading metal- 
working establishments. 

Pencoyd Iron Works. — Outside the city limits, up 
the line of the Schuylkill, are a number of large metal- 
working plants, the most extensive of which is that of the 
Pencoyd Iron Works, opposite Manayunk, and just be- 
yond the city line. Bridge-building is thejndustry pursued 
here, and Pencoyd iron and steel bridges have been erected 
in all parts of the world, experts and skilled workmen being 
sent with them to attend to the work of construction. 

DissTON Saws. — At Tacony, on the north Delaware 
front, two miles northeast of Bridesburg, is a manufac- 
turing suburb of Philadelphia in which are located the 
famous Disston Saw Works, the product of which is known 
in all parts of the world where there is lumber to cut. 
This immense plant, covering fifty acres and possessing 
more than fifty buildings, employs a small army of hands. 



130 GREAT INDUSTRIAL PLANTS 

nearly four thousand in number. These works, otherwise 
known as the Keystone Saw Works, are seventy -five 
years old, and have always been famous for the high 
quality of steel employed, a complete laboratory being 
maintained to ensure fine quality and uniformity in the 
metal used. Saws are not the sole product. The Disston 
files and tools in general are as widely known, quality and 
efficiency being the firm's watchword. 

In all other fields of iron and steel work Philadelphia 
maintains a high standard, it holding high rank in its 
number of machine shops and other iron-working estab- 
lishments, while its machine tools are known and used all 
over the world. The variety of product in these shops 
goes beyond the space at our command, but it may be 
said that in heavy machine tools Philadelphia takes the 
lead, while the greatest steam hammers known have been 
made in this city. One of these, set up in a Bethlehem 
establishment some years ago, struck so heavy a blow 
that it was found that the heavy framework holding the 
anvil could not bear the force of the impact. 

Textiles. — Another field of industry in which Phila- 
delphia stands preeminent is the manufacture of textiles. 
The production of carpets here has so long been known 
to be the largest in the world that this fact is scarcely 
necessary 'to repeat, the production being estimated at 
45,000,000 yards yearly. It has, however, undergone 
a change in consonance with the public demand. While 
the output of regular carpetings has to a considerable 
extent decreased, that of rugs has correspondingly in- 
creased. These, usually of the variet}^ known as Smyrna, 
are now manufactured here in enormous quantities, in 
response to the growing demand. 



GREAT INDUSTRIAL PLANTS 131 

Of the several large carpet mills, we may speak spe- 
cially of the great Dobson mills, at the Falls of Schuylkill, 
these being the largest in the United States and employing 
several thousand hands. 

Hosiery and Knit Goods. — In the manufacture of 
hose and half-hose there is said to be enough made every 
year in Philadelphia to furnish all its citizens with stock- 
ings for a lifetime. Nearly half the entire production of 
the United States is made here, the annual output in 
this city being more than that of the entire country thirty 
years ago. This includes the general knitting trade, which 
has made enormous progress within the past three-fourths 
of a century. 

The production of cotton and woollen goods is another 
branch of industry in which this city has made large 
strides within a similar period. There has been an increase 
in annual output of some 400 per cent., the present yearly 
product in these lines being valued at about $60,000,000. 
Worsted goods have largely taken the place of the older 
grades of woollens, while cotton fabrics show a large increase. 

Stetson Hats. — One line of manufacture that has had 
an enormous development within the recent period is 
that of felt hats, the Stetson hats having made themselves 
a market everywhere. As "good wine needs no bush," 
these need no praise. The John B. Stetson Hat Company, 
founded at Fourth Street and Montgomery Avenue within 
the present generation, is now one of Philadelphia's great 
industrial plants, and employs a small army of workmen. 
In this establishment the custom has been adopted of 
dividing the profits with the workmen, who' now own 
about 5,000 shares, worth, at the present market value of 
$400, about $-2,000,000. 



132 GREAT INDUSTRIAL PLANTS 

We can only briefly allude to the braid manufacturers, 
spool-cotton makers, loom factories, and the immense 
production of yarns, while in the making of lace curtains 
Philadelphia has no rival. In this connection the exten- 
sive Fitler rope and cordage works call for mention. 

Oil-cloth and linoleum are produced in Philadelphia 
mills in great quantities, the present-day grades having no 
superiors and being noted as among the best made any- 
where. Also, in connection with textile production, the 
dye-makers, the bleachers, and all the allied industries 
flourish. 

Chemicals. — At Ninth and Parrish Streets stands 
another of the great industrial establishments which Phila- 
delphia has to show, the Po wers- Weigh tman-Rosengarten 
Chemical Works, which has also an extensive manufactory 
at the Falls of Schuylkill. Here are produced a line of 
fine chemicals and drugs for use in medicine and the arts 
said to be unequalled by that of any similar works in the 
country and to have few rivals in the world. 

Sugar Refining. — Early in its history Philadelphia 
attained a prominence in the production of refined sugar, 
in which it surpassed any other part of the country. Since 
then there has been an enormous increase in this industry. 
Near the Delaware, in the southern section of the city, 
grew up the extensive refineries of Harrison, Frazier & Co- 
and E. C. Knight & Co., whose lofty buildings, near Front 
and Bainbridge Streets, were capable of ^^ielding some 
5,000 barrels of refined sugar per day. These establish- 
ments were greatly surpassed in output by the enormous 
refineries erected by Claus Spreckels, extending over an 
area of about ten acres in the same part of the cit}^ the 
buildings themselves covering six acres. These various 



GREAT INDUSTRIAL PLANTS 133 

works, which had in all an enormous productive capacity, 
were eventually absorbed by the Sugar Trust. As for 
their product, it is estimated at the considerable annual 
sum of $40,000,000. A century ago Philadelphia stood 
at the head of the sugar industry in the United States. 
To-day it probably stands second. The extension of the 
territorial outreach of the United States over some of the 
great sugar-producing islands, and its intimate commer- 
cial touch with Cuba, have placed this country at the head 
of the refined sugar-producing countries of the world, so 
that Philadelphia, through its large product, stands nearly 
as the world's chief sugar-refining city. 

It seems curious to be told that raw sugar and goat- 
skins constitute the leading imports into Philadelphia. 
We have shown the reason for the former. In regard to 
the latter there is a large demand for these skins, the tan- 
neries using 150,000 annually. These are for the extensive 
business in Philadelphia dressed-kid, a favorite kind of 
leather now widely used in the manufacture of fine shoes. 

Street Cars. — One further industry in which Phila- 
delphia has no rival is that of the making of street cars 
to supply the present vast demand for electric trolley-car 
travel. The J. G. Brill Company, on Woodland Avenue, 
West Philadelphia, stands first in the world in this indus- 
try, the demand for the superior Brill cars having long 
gone beyond the large requirement for this city and 
spread widely throughout the country at large. 

PiiBLisHiNG. — While not seeking to exhaust the lines 
of production in which Philadelphia has been prominent, 
it is well to say something concerning its standing in the 
publishing and allied industries. It is of interest to know 
that the old Rittenhouse paper mill, erected in the valley 



134 GREAT INDUSTRIAL PLANTS 

of the Wissahickon in 1702, to replace a mill that had been 
swept away by a flood, still remains. It is on Paper Mill 
Run, a small stream which flows into the Wissahickon. 
The first mill is believed to have been put up about 1690. 
The earliest printer in the Middle Colonies was William 
Bradford, one of the proprietors of this mill, though print- 
ing had been done in New England much before the date 
given. Near the old mill stands the house in which David 
Rittenhouse, the astronomer, was born in 1732. The Nixons, 
recent proprietors of the Flat Rock Paper Mills, in Mana- 
yunk, are descendants of the Rittenhouses. It is well to 
state that Flat Rock Mills, with those of the American 
Wood-paper Company, were formerly said to comprise 
the most extensive paper works existing, though this can 
no longer be claimed. 

In respect to printing and publishing, Philadelphia long 
held the first place in the United States, and is still very 
active in these lines of business. At the present time 
the capital invested in these industries is more than 
$20,000,000. 

In the new field of photo-engraving Philadelphia stands 
prominent. The first half-tone plate was perfected by a 
Philadelphian, and the Quaker City is regarded as lead- 
ing the world in the perfection of its half-tone illustra- 
tions. Philadelphia photographers also stand very high 
in their vocation, some of the portrait and commercial 
photographers being known over the world for the perfec- 
tion of their work. 

Other lines in which Philadelphia excels are the manu- 
facture of envelopes, of shipping-tags, of blank-books, 
and some other paper products, and as a whole this city 
holds an enviable rank as a centre of industrial production. 



COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATIONS 135 



18. Commercial and Mercantile Organizations. 

The Bourse. — The chief center of Philadelphia's 
business organizations lies in the Bourse, a spacious edi- 
fice extending from Fourth to Fifth Street and occupying 
the interval between Merchant and Ranstead Streets, 
it having a length of 304 feet and a breadth of 132 feet, 
while it is of eight stories in height. The first three stories 
are of stone, the remainder being of light-colored brick 
to the ornate terra-cotta finish of the eighth story, the 
whole effect being very pleasing. 

The first floor is occupied by the great hall of the Bourse, 
a room 240 feet in length and 126 in width, it being divided 
by rows of columns into a broad and loft}^ central hall and 
two wide side aisles with galleries. The seventh floor is 
devoted to one of the leading purposes of the building, 
that of a permanent museum of trade and industry. This 
great apartment has a floor space of 36,000 square feet, 
and is destined to prove an increasing source of attraction 
to residents and visitors. Among the business institutions 
located in this building are the Chamber of Commerce, 
Board of Trade, Maritime Exchange, Corn Exchange, 
Lumbermen's Exchange, and Grocers' and Importers' 
Exchange. 

Stock Exchange. — This active financial center, for- 
merly located in the Drexel Building, at Fifth and Chest- 
nut Streets, has now a spacious home of its own, on Walnut 
Street west of Broad, adjoining the stately Manufac- 
turers' club-house, which it equals in height and capacity. 

Master-Builders' Exchange. — The institution known 
under this name, at 18-24 South Seventh Street, opposite 



136 COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATIONS 

The Franklin Institute, is an organization of builders and 
those connected with the building trade. The extensive 
first floor is occupied by the Builders' Exchange Perma- 
nent Exhibition, an interesting display of materials used 
in the construction and finish of buildings. In the base- 
ment are the Builders' Exchange Trade Schools, in which 
a useful training may be had by those who wish to enter 
the building trade. These schools have been very success- 
ful for the purpose mentioned. 

Markets. — The Farmers' Market, occupying a large 
ground-floor space under part of the Philadelphia and 
Reading Railway Station, is a place amply worth a visit, 
it being one of the best and finest markets in any of our 
cities. In close relation with it is the large wholesale 
market between the Schuylkill and Thirty-second Street, 
fronting on Market Street, West Philadelphia, in close 
connection with the Pennsylvania Railroad. 

Along the Delaware, southward from Walnut Street, 
is a highly active wholesale produce market, in which a 
vast supply of fruits and vegetables is daily handled, 
while great quantities of butter, cheese, cured meats, etc., 
are dealt in. Here also sea-food products, fish, oysters, 
and the like, are sold in large quantities, and European 
and southern American fruits, brought by fast steamships, 
are marketed. 

In this locality and southward an active commerce is car- 
ried on, both in exports and imports, many ocean steamships 
docking here. A great freight depot of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad extends from Walnut Street south on Delaware 
Avenue to near Dock Street, and further south is the ex- 
tensive establishment of the Quaker City Cold-Storage 
Company, a mammoth refrigerator for the preservation 



COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATIONS 137 

of perishable foods. This is seven stories in height and 
covers a large area. 

On Second Street, south of Chestnut, is the massive 
government warehouse known as the United States Ap- 
praisers' Building, covering a large space and five stories 
in height, where imported goods are received from the 
Custom-house for appraisement. 

So important has the growing commerce of the port of 
Philadelphia become that a department of the city govern- 
ment is now devoted to the purpose of its improvement. 
Railway tracks for the movement of freight extend along 
the whole length of Delaware Avenue, which has been 
widened and along which many wharves and docks have 
been constructed, fitted to accommodate an active ocean 
commerce. Among these are seven modern piers belong- 
ing to the city, fifteen to the Pennsylvania Railroad, 
twenty-three to the Philadelphia and Reading, and three 
to the Baltimore and Ohio. The facilities for bringing 
inland freight to the water-side have within recent years 
been much extended and South Philadelphia is so covered 
with railroad tracks that the general elevation of these 
tracks above street level is one of the things most seriously 
considered. 

Time was when Philadelphia stood first in the United 
States as a maritime center. It can hardly now expect 
to compete with New York in commerce, yet there is no 
sufficient reason why it should not regain much of its 
once proud position. It has, as already stated, grown to 
be a great manufacturing city. The census places New 
York and Chicago in advance in this particular, but it 
must be borne in mind that the killing and dressing of 
meat is a chief element in the total of Chicago manufac- 



18B COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATIONS 

tures, an item scarcely belonging in this category, while 
New York fails to compete with Philadelphia in its various 
great plants, some of which stand unrivalled in the world. 

With this preponderance in manufacture, there is no 
sufficient reason why there should not be a great increase 
in commerce in the coming years. The Delaware has now 
a low-tide channel of thirty feet, and a completed one of 
thirty-five feet is closely in sight. With the increased 
facilities for wharfage and dockage now proposed, 
and the wide and deep channel to the sea at present 
existing, Philadelphia should come into active rivalry 
with all its competitors. It now supports freight lines to 
Liverpool, London, Manchester, Leith, Glasgow, Copen- 
hagen, Christiania, and Rotterdam, with numerous tramp 
vessels to ports all over the globe, and its activity in this 
field is on the increase. 

In this connection an interesting and promising proj- 
ect is that of the inter-canal line along the Atlantic 
now in view, the "Atlantic Deeper Waterways" project, 
which cannot long be delayed. Two sections of this with 
which this city is closely connected are the proposed ship- 
canal across the State of New Jersey and the deepening 
of the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal across Delaware 
and Maryland. The advantages to Philadelphia of such 
a canal must be very great — how great only the event 
can show. 



THE NEW PHILADELPHIA IN PROGRESS 139 



19. The New Philadelphia in Progress. 

Much has been said in the foregoing pages of Philadel- 
phia as it was and is. It is in place here to speak of Phila- 
delphia as it is to be in the near future. Its progressive 
citizens are full of ideas for making their city a place of 
beauty and convenience, and it is with these plans and 
ideas, so far as they are now under process of realization, 
that we propose here to deal. 

Rapid Transit. — Philadelphia has grown from Penn's 
outlook of two square miles to a city covering 271 square 
miles in area, it being twenty -two miles in extreme length, 
and from five to six miles in width. Of its two central 
streets. Broad Street is open in a straight line for a length 
of twelve miles, Market Street for six miles in length. 
And the people are flocking in hosts to new homes in the 
suburbs, a fact which renders the problem of getting about, 
of genuine rapid transit, a difficult one. This problem 
has been solved so far as Market Street is concerned by 
its Subway and Elevated trolley lines. But the greater 
problem of Broad Street and of the several long diagonal 
streets remains to be dealt with, and it is a matter of 
congratulation that this problem has been definitely 
taken in hand, work on the great Broad Street Subway 
having begun. 

It is an enterprise of vast dimensions to excavate a 
subway for travel under the length of Broad Street, 
especially in view of its great surface travel, which cannot 
be interfered with, and of the immense obstruction of the 
City Hall which crosses it midway. The City Hall has 
once been mined around for railway travel. This cannot 



140 THE NEW PHILADELPHIA IN PROGRESS 

be done again. It must now be mined beneath, and this 
vast task its engineers have boldly undertaken. Swerving 
sidewise to avoid the mighty weight of the great tower, the 
civic miners propose to delve deep below, shoring up the 
great building by mighty beams as they dig out the earth. 
They have begun by attacking the problem at its knottiest 
point. This accomplished, the remaining task will be far 
easier and less complicated, though it demands many miles 
of under-street delving, including a great central loop from 
Fifteenth to Eighth Street to avoid congestion in its 
center of travel. There is also in contemplation a sup- 
plementary Subway under the Parkway to give easy 
access to the northwest. 

Elevated Railways. — The great scheme here de- 
scribed involves also several lengthy Elevated Railways 
traversing diagonal streets, of which one, following the 
line of Frankford Avenue, is now being built. There are 
two others in view, both of them miles in length, one 
along Woodland Avenue from Market Street to Darby, a 
second along Lancaster Avenue to the northwest. All 
these lines, and probably others, are inevitable. They 
must be built, for the convenience of the suburban popu- 
lation demands them, and the time is in sight when street 
travel will be as rapid, cheap and easy in Philadelphia as 
in any city on the globe. 

The Parkway. — While making their cit^^ convenient, 
the City Fathers of Philadelphia have also had it in view 
to make it beautiful, and their greatest effort in this 
direction has been in the construction of a grand Park- 
way, connecting the City Hall with the elevation at 
Fairmount by a wide diagonal avenue nearly a mile in 
length, and which, when finished according to the design. 



THE NEW PHILADELPHIA IN PROGRESS 141 

will be without a parallel in beauty and ornate grandeur 
in any city of the earth. It is in considerable part com- 
pleted, so far as laying out the broad drives and their 
intermediate green-bordered walks are concerned. Its 
width from City Hall to the central Logan Square will be 
140 feet, and from this square to Fairmount 250 feet, 
and it is to be bordered on both sides by splendid struc- 
tures for civic and other purposes which will make it a 
super-noble avenue in the way of grand architectural 
design. 

The Art Museum. — Three of the leading Parkway 
buildings are approaching construction, a commodious 
and handsome public library for which a large space has 
been set aside at Nineteenth and Vine Streets, a grand 
Art Museum which is to face the City Hall as the north- 
westward termination of the Parkway, and a great and 
ornate Convention Hall, occup^'ing an extensive space 
west of Tw^enty-first Street, and capable of accommodat- 
ing some 15,000 persons. Like the Acropolis at Athens, 
the Art Museum will crown an elevated site, that formerly 
used as the reservoir, its base some fifty feet above the 
street level and the structure overlooking the city from 
its commanding position as the statue of William Penn 
does from its lofty base at the other terminus of the 
Parkway. 

The completed plan, as shown by a model in the City 
Hall courtyard, with its main building, its projecting 
wings, its lofty Corinthian columns, the series of terraces 
with steps and fountains leading up to it, and a graded 
and planted slope on the sides and rear, will constitute an 
artistic whole without equal in position and effect among 
the art galleries of any other of our cities. 



142 THE NEW PHILADELPHIA IN PROGRESS 

As for the art objects to be exhibited within it, the city 
possesses a fine nucleus in the Wilstach collection, now 
hung in Memorial Hall. There are a number of costly 
private collections in the city which will probably find a 
final resting-place in this grand gallery, these including 
the superb Widener collection, which the will of its late 
owner leaves open for exhibition here. The Academy 
of the Fine Arts may also collaborate with the Art 
Museum in hanging some of its fine paintings upon its 
walls, and the indications are that a magnificent art 
display is awaiting the completion of this splendidly 
located gallery of the fine arts. 

Boulevards. — Philadelphia has kept pace with the 
other cities of our country in planning and laying out an 
elaborate series of parks and boulevards for the enjoy- 
ment of its inhabitants. Fairmount Park is surpassed in 
size among city parks only by the Prater of Vienna, and 
in natural beauty and picturesqueness has no equal any- 
where among the earth's civic pleasure-grounds. Of 
recent additions to Philadelphia's attractions in this direc- 
tion are the South Broad Street Boulevard, with its 
terminal plaza and League Island Park, the boulevards 
following the winding course of the Pennepack and Cobb's 
creeks, and various other boulevards, speedways, amuse- 
ment parks and other centers of attraction. 

Near-by Resorts. — Philadelphia lies between the 
mountains and the sea, and within easy distance of 
each. Atlantic City, America's greatest seaside resort, is 
practically an ocean suburb, and presents a myriad of 
attractions for pleasure lovers, not the least of which is 
its fine bathing. While the ocean is only an hour or so 
away, little more time lands the Philadelphian amid 



THE NEW PHILADELPHIA IN PROGRESS 143 

charming mountain scenery, that of the Delaware Water 
Gap and its adjoining mountains. There are various 
other places of resort, in the hills or by the seaside, and 
localities of historical interest, the chief of which is Valley 
Forge, one of the most notable of Revolutionary localities. 
This famous place can be reached in an hour's ride, and 
there are several lines of sight-seeing automobiles ready 
to take visitors to and through its attractions. A five- 
hundred-acre reservation has. been set aside, embracing 
the picturesque hills on which Washington's army en- 
camped during that dreary winter of 1777-78, and dis- 
playing still the earthworks thrown up for defence, models 
of the huts occupied by the soldiers, the old colonial man- 
sion in which W^ashington dwelt, a fine view from the 
observatory on Mt. Joy, and other points of interest. 

Such are some of the attractions within easy reach of 
visitors in the vicinity of Philadelphia. So numerous are 
they that it has been said that "perhaps no other city in 
the United States has so many notable i>leasure resorts 
within easy reach." 



144 THE METROPOLIS OF PENNSYLVANIA 



20. The Metropolis of Pennsylvania. 

So FAR we have dealt with Philadelphia as confined 
within its municipal limits. Within this space 1,750,000 
persons dwell. But the real Philadelphia, the Metropoli- 
tan City, the multitude of hives of industry which have 
grown up around the central municipality and of whose 
activities it is the true center, extends for miles in every 
direction around it, the total population included within 
the city and its circle of offsprings being estimated at 
4,000,000. In this outer ring, or metropolitan district, 
may be included the Pennsylvania counties of Berks, 
Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, 
Montgomery, and Northampton, with their 1,300,000 
inhabitants; the nearby counties of New Jersey, with 
600,000; the people of Newcastle County, Delaware, and 
the inhabitants of Atlantic City and other seaside resorts, 
outgrowths of the expansion of the Quaker City. Phila- 
delphia throws its mantle of commercial and industrial 
association over this wide district, in which are the smaller 
cities of Wilmington, Chester, Camden, Reading, Lan- 
caster, South Bethlehem, Coatesville, and various others, 
clustering like hives of busy bees around their great 
central city, to the numerous industrial plants of which 
they add some 30,000 others, some of these, like the Eddy- 
stone offshoot from Baldwin's, being simply transplanted 
sections of the city proper. 

Within this metropolitan district are 1,475 textile mills, 
of which 911 are in the central city and 460 in the Penn- 
sylvania counties named. Within these mills more than 
200,000 workmen are employed, making this metropolis 



THE METROPOLIS OF PENNSYLVANIA 145 

of industry in a double sense the world's largest textile 
center. The war in Europe brought to these establish- 
ments vast demands for textile goods, greatly increasing 
their normal output. And there is reason to believe that 
much of this active demand will survive the war. At 
present more money in the form of wages is flowing into 
the hands of Philadelphia artisans than in any other city 
in the country, and great part of this falls to the textile 
workers. 

Iron and steel are the basis of another line of goods in 
which metropolitan Philadelphia is exceptionally busy, 
the plants within the city itself being supplemented by 
numerous active ones in the surrounding towns, of which 
South Bethlehem is a place of enormous activity. As for 
Philadelphia itself, the newly organized Midvale Steel and 
Ordnance Company represents an outlying branch which 
occupies a part of the Baldwin plant at Eddystone, and 
is engaged in manufacturing 2,000,000 Enfield rifles for 
the British Government; 25,000 men are employed in this 
work. The duPont powder mills of Wilmington and its 
vicinity form another enterprising form of industry which 
adds an important share to the commercial standing of 
the metropolitan district. In Marcus Hook, a suburb of 
Chester, is one of the largest artificial-silk plants of the 
world. 

It is indeed not alone on war material that Philadelphia 
is engaged. Machinery of all sorts is made, especially 
textile machines, which give busy employment to more 
than a score of workshops. These produce not only the 
ordinary implements, but also special machinery, such as 
electric cloth-cutters, finishing boards, lock-stitch loopers, 
friction clutches, and other specialties. There is also an 



146 THE METROPOLIS OF PENNSYLVANIA 

encouraging demand for milling tools, drills, and various 
other types of metal-working machinery. Wire is a prod- 
uct greatly in demand, also chain and other forgings, 
planes, lathes, pulleys, files, farm and garden implements, 
and many more varieties of metal tools and hardware 
than we have space to mention. In fact, nowhere else in 
the United States is high-grade manufacturing so cen- 
tralized. 

The production of patent medicines and compounds 
and druggists' preparations is prominent in this city, 
nearly 200 establishments being engaged in this line. The 
Powers-Weightman-Rosengarten Company is the largest 
maker of quinine-sulphate and morphine-sulphate in the 
country, and there are various other large manufacturers 
of drug materials. Philadelphia is also prominent in the 
leather industry; tanning, currying and finishing leather 
products being prosperous lines of labor. It is especially 
an important field for sole-leather and glazed-kid manu- 
facture. Including the works in Camden and Wilmington, 
seventy -five per cent, of the world's supply of goatskins are 
tanned and finished here, the capacity of the Philadelphia 
factories being in the neighborhood of 60,000,000 goat- 
skins a year. 

Another item of active Philadelphia industry is the 
manufacture of clothing, nearly 500 establishments being 
engaged in the production of men's and about 400 in that 
of women's clothing. 

These are a few of the active industries of Philadelphia, 
the total list being a long one. To those mentioned may 
be added bread and bakery products, petroleum refining, 
malt liquors, confectionery, paint and varnish, soap, brass 
and bronze goods, twine and cordage, paper and wood- 



THE METROPOLIS OF PENNSYLVANIA 147 

pulp, fancy and paper boxes, furniture and refrigerators, 
and various other lines of manufacture. 

Omitting the surrounding districts, we may estimate 
in Philadelphia to-day 10,000 manufacturing plants, in 
which are employed 400,000 skilled workmen, their daily 
wages footing up to $1,000,000. If the metropolitan 
district be added, the daily wages would total $1,500,000, 
making in all a monthly payroll of $45,000,000. 

Coming now to commercial and financial business, 
Philadelphia possesses 1,000 wholesale mercantile houses, 
and has more than 100 banks, trust and saving-fund com- 
panies, with capital and surplus aggregating $170,000,000 
and deposits of $600,000,000. Its saving-fund companies 
hold about $200,000,000, of which one, the Philadelphia 
Saving Fund, has over $100,000,000. Among its public 
institutions may be enumerated two universities, six med- 
ical schools, thirty-four hospitals, over eight hundred 
churches, and three hundred public schools, with many 
more institutions of diverse kinds. In value of products 
the first place must be granted to Philadelphia in hosiery 
and knit goods, rugs and carpets, fur and felt hats, loco- 
motives, ships, dyeing and finishing textiles, street cars, 
oil-cloth, linoleum, saws, and sporting and athletic goods. 
It ranks second in women's clothing, laces and millinery, 
woollen and felt goods, wool hats, leather, and sugar 
refining. 

What more may we say? A statistician makes the 
interesting estimate that for almost every minute of the 
day and night a railway train arrives in Philadelphia; 
every time the clock strikes $150,000 in value of newly 
made goods are handed out by the city workmen; the 
steam-railway tracks within the city are long enough to 



148 THE METROPOLIS OF PENNSYLVANIA 

reach from Philadelphia to St. Louis; every day brings 
ocean steamships to our docks and sends others away; 
each minute of the banking day sees a hundred depositors 
pass money through the bank windows; when the nation 
is sick it comes to Philadelphia for drugs and doctors; 
and when the government needs a new battleship it can 
go to only one place and obtain such a ship complete 
from keel to 13-inch guns without trespassing upon a 
county line, and that place is Philadelphia. 

These are not all the items that might have been given, 
nor is the description of Philadelphia institutions in the 
foregoing pages intended to be exhaustive. Others of 
importance might have been mentioned, but enough have 
been spoken of to show the high standing which Phila- 
delphia has won among the world's centers of population. 



INDEX 



Academy of Fine Arts, 107, 108, 142 
Academy of Music, 1 10, 
Academy of Natural Sciences, 100, 

102, 104, 105 
Acorn Club, 122 
Adams, John, 19, 30 
Adelphia Hotel, 123 
Aldine Hotel, 123 
American Philosophical Society, 8, 39, 

104 
Appraisers' Building, 137 
Apprentices' Library, 32 
Aquarium, Park, 54 
Armory, First Regiment, 118 
Arnold Mansion, 51 
Art Club, 109, 122 
Art in Fairmount Park, 54 
Art Museum, 141 

Articles of Confederation, 15, 17, 18 
Asylums, Blind, 93; Deaf and Dumb, 

94; Orphan, 94, 95 
Athenaeum, the, 123 
Athens of America, 24 
Atlantic City, 142 
Atlantic Waterway, 138 
Audubon, John J., 24 . 

B 

Baldwin Locomotive Works, 20, 127 
Baltimore and Ohio R. R., 137 
Bank of United States, 19, 69, 70; of 

North America, 19, 40, 69 
Bartram, John, 34 
Bartram's Garden, 35 
Battle of the Kegs, 16 



Belle vue-Stratford Hotel, 123 
Belmont Mansion, 52, 58 
Bethany Church, 125 
Betsy Ross, 22; House of, 31, 32 
Bingham Hotel, 123 
Biology, Museum of, 102 
Blind, Asylum for the, 93 
Blockley Almshouse, 66, 87 
Board of Trade, 135 
Boulevards, 46, 142 
Bourse, the, 135 
Brill's Car Works, 133 
Broad Street, 3, 9, 61, 139 
Brown, Charles Brockden, 24 
Builders' Exchange, 135 
Business section, 48, 49 



Capital, Philadelphia as national. 10, 

18, 19; as state, 23 
Car lines, electric, 42—44 
Carpenters' Hall, 11, 12, 30, 31 
Carpet mills, 130, 131 
Cathedral, Roman Catholic, 124 
Cathedral Cemetery, 126 
Centennial Exposition, 55 
Central district, 115 
Chamber of Commerce, 135 
Chamouni, 53 
(^barter School, 6, 34 
Chemical works, 132, 146 
Chew House, 16 
Children's Hospital, 96 
Christ Church, 36, 37, 124 
Churches, 124 
City Club, 122 

149 



150 



INDEX 



City Hall, 59-62, 139, 140 

City Institute, 100 

City of Homes, 26 

City Troop, 32 

Clothing, manufacture of, 146 

Clover Club, 122 

Clubs, Philadelphia, 122 

Clyde of America, the, 26, 128 

Coal, anthracite, 21 

Cold storage, 136 

College of Physicians, 21, 91, 92 

Colleges near Philadelphia, 81 

Columbia Club, 122 

Commerce, 23, 138 

Commercial Museum, 100, 101 

Confederation, Articles of, 15, 17, 18 

Congress Hall, 19, 30 

Congress, Stamp Act, 11; Continental, 

11, 17; National, 18 
Constitution, United States, 18 
Constitutional Convention, 18 
Contemporary Club, 122 
Continental Hcstel, 123 
Convalescents' Home, 9(5 
Convention Hall, 141 
Corn Exchange, 135 
Country Club, Philadelphia, 122 
Cramps' Shipyard, 128 
Crippled Children, Home for, 96 
Curtis Building, 118 
Custom House, 70 

D 

Deaf and Dumb Asylum, 94 
Declaration of Independence, 14, 18 
Delaware River, 1, 5; deepening of 

the, 44; channel of the, 67, 138 
DelaAvare Water Gap, 143 
Dennie, Joseph, 24 
Dental colleges, 91 
Department stores, 49 



Departments, municipal, 62 
Dispensary, Philadelphia, 119 
Disston Saw Works, 129, 130 
Dobson Carpet W^orks, 131 
Drainage, 64, 65 
Dressed kid, 133 
Drexel Institute, 84 



East Park Reservoir, 51 

Eddystone Works, 128 

Egglesfield, 52, 120 

Electric railways, 42-44; lights, 63, 64 

Elevated Railway, 140 

Episcopal Academy, 119 

Evans Dental Institute, 80, 91 

Evans, Oliver, 21 

Exchanges, 135 



Fairmount Park, 50-58, 142 

Falls of Schuylkill, 52 

Farmers' Market, 136 

Federal institutions, 69-76 

Fine Arts, Academy of the, 107, 108, 

142 
First things in Philadelphia, 38, 39 
Fitch, John, 21 
Fitler Rope Works, 132 
Five o'clock Club, 122 
Flower Observatory, 80 
Frankford Arsenal, 73 
Franklin, Benjamin, 7, 9, 10, 17, 32, 

77 
Franklin Field, 48, 80 
Franklin Institute, 105, 106 
Freight railroad lines, 44 
Friends, 5, 8 
Friends' Grammar School, 6 



INDEX 



151 



Friends' Insane Asylum, 95 
Friends' Meeting, 36 



Geographical Society, 122 

German Hospital, 93 

Germantown, battle of, 16; location 

of, 25; Academy, 81 
Girard Bank, 69 
Girard College, 82-84 
Girard, Stephen, 23, 24, 69, 81 
Goatskins, 133, 146 
Godfrey, Thomas, 9 
Grace Baptist Church, 80, 124 
Graduates in Medicine, College of, 91 
Grammar School, Friends', 6 
Grand Opera House, 111 
Grant's Cabin, 54 
Green's Hotel, 123 
Grocers' and Importers' Exchange, 135 

H 

Hahnemann College, 90 

Hamilton, Alexander, 19 

Hats, Stetson, 131 

Health and Charity Department, (id 

Henley of America, the, 48 

High and Normal Schools, 86 

High Street, 3, 48 

Historical Society, 98 

Holy Trinity Church, 124 

Homes and asylums, 93-97 

Hopkinson, Francis, 16 

Horticultural Hall, 57 

Horticultiu-al Society, 107 

Hosiery, 131 

Hospitals, 38, 66, 87, 92, 93, 95 

House of Industry, 94 

Houston Hall, 80 

Howard Hospital, 95 



I 

Incurables, Hospital for, 95; Homes 

for, 96 
Independence, Declaration of, 14, 18 
Independence Hall, 12, 13, 19, 28, 29 
Industrial Art, School of, 56, 85 
Industrial plants, 127-135 
Insane, asylums for the, 66, 95 



Jefferson Medical College, 89 
Jefferson, Thomas, 14, 31 
Junta Club, 104 



Keystone Saw Works, 129, 130 
Kid leather, 133, 146 
Kirkbride's Insane Hospital, 66, 92 
Knit goods, 131 

L 

Laurel Hill Cemetery, 52, 53, 125 
League Island Navy Yard, 74-76 
League Island Park, 75 
Leather, 133, 146 
Lemon Hill, 53 
Letitia Penn, 34 
Liberty Bell, 14, 15, 16, 28, 29 
Libraries, 8, 38, 98-100, 141 
Lighting, city, 63 
Lippincott, J. B., Co , 118 
Logan, James, 9 
Lu Lu Temple, 117 
Lumbermen's Exchange, 135 

M 

Manufactures of Philadelphia, 23, 26, 

27,127-134, 138, 145-148 
Manufacturers' Club, 122, 135 
Maritime Exchange, 135 



15^2 



INDEX 



Market Street, 3, 48 
Markets, 13G 
Masonic Temple, 117 
Master Builders' Exchange, 135 
Mechanical trade schools, 85 
Medical College, University, 87; Jef- 
ferson, 89; Woman's, 89 
Medical Hall, 88 
Medical schools, 38 
Medico-Chirurgical College, 89 
Memorial Hall, 56, 57, 85, 103 
Mercantile Club, 1£2 
Mercantile Library, 99 
Merchants' Exchange, 69 
Meschianza, the, 16, 17 
Metropolitan Opera House, 110, 111 
Metropolitan Philadelphia, 144 
Midvale Steel Works, 129, 145 
Mint, United States, 20, 21, 72, 73 
Monument Cemetery, 126 
Morris, Robert, 19, 24, 51, 69 
Mount Peace Cemetery, 126 
Mount Pleasant Mansion, 51 
Mount Moriah Cemetery, 126 
Mount Vernon Cemetery, 126 
Mummers' parade, 113, 114 
Museums, 100-103 
Musical Fund Hall, 111 

N 
National Museum, 103 
Natural Sciences, Academy of, 100, 

102, 104, 105 
Naval Asylum, 73, 74 
Navy Yard, League Island, 74-76 
Neck, the, 74 
New Century Club, 122 
New York Shipbuilding Co., 26, 128 

O 
Old Ladies' Home, 96 
Old Men's Home, 97 



Orphan asylums, 94, 95 
Osteopathic College, 90 



Paine, Thomas, 9 

Paper mills, 134 

Parks, ball and entertainment, 47 

Parks, musical, athletic, etc., 112, 113 

Parkway, the, 140, 141 

Paving, city, 64 

Pen and Pencil Club, 122 

Pencoyd Iron Works, 129 

Penn Club, 122 

Penn House, 33, 34, 52 

Penn, John, 52 

Penn Statue, 60 

Penn, William, 1, 3, 5, 25, 116 

Pennsylvania Dutch, 6; Gazette, 7; 
Hospital, 38, 66, 67, 87; Museum, 
85, 103 ; Railroad Company, 136, 

. 137 

Peters, Judge, 52 

Pharmacy, College of, 90 

Philadelphia, site of, 2; plan, 3; name, 
4; settlement, 5; population, 8; colo- 
nial capital, 11; national capital, 
14, 18; British occupation, 16; pop- 
ulation in 1800, 23; consolidation, 
25; to-day in, 26, 41; first things, 
38, 39; streets, 45, 46; commerce, 
67; size, 139; population, 144; man- 
ufactures, 144-147 

Philadelphia and Reading Railway, 137 

Philadelphia Club, 120 

Philadelphia Dispensary, 119 

Philadelphia Hospital, 66, 87 

Philadelphia Library, 39, 98 

Philadelphia streets, 45, 46 

Photoplays, 113 

Physicians, College of, 21, 91, 92 

Piers, 137 



INDEX 



153 



Pine Street Church, 01.1, 38 

Police system, 65 

Port facilities, 44 

Post Office, 70-72 

Powers -\\ eightman- Rosen garten 

Chemical Works, 132, 146 
Presbyterian churches, old, 38, 124 
Preston Retreat, 96 
Public Library, 98. 99, 141 
Public schools, 86 

Q 



Quaker City, 
Quakers, 5 



4, 8, 11 



R 



Railroad stations, 42 

Railways, electric, 42-44 

Rapid transit, 139 

Reading Railway Terminal, 42, 43 

Ridgway Library, 98 

Rittenhouse Club, 120 

Rittenhouse, David, 9 

Ritz-Carlton Hotel, 123 

River channel, Delaware, 67, 138 

Rush, Dr. Benjamin, 39, 87 



Saint James Church, 124 

Saint James Hotel, 123 

Saint Mary's Church, 38 

Saint Paul's Church, 37 

Saint Peter's Church, 37 

School of Design for Women, 85, 86 

Schuylkill River, 2; Navy, 48, 53, 123 ; 

Arsenal, 73 
Scotch-Irish, 6 
Shipbuilding, 26, 128, 129 
Shopping district, 48 
Smith Memorial, 54, 55 
Smith's Island, 67 
Speedway, motor, 113 
Squares, public, 47 



Stars and Stripes, the, 22 
State capital, 23 
State House, 12, 28 
State in SchuylkilL 120 
Statuary, Park, 54; City Hall, 61 
Steam travel, origin of, 21 
Steamboat, the, 21, 22 
Stenton Hotel, 123 
Stetson hats, 131 
Stock Exchange, 135 
Strawberry Mansion, 52 
Street cars, 133 
Sub-treasury, 70 
Suburbs, 25, 41, 42 
Subway, 43, 140 
Sugar refineries, 132, 133 
Supplies, Department of, 68 
Swedes' Church, Old, 35, 36 

T 
Temple, the, 125 
Temple University, 81, 89, 125 
Textile industries, 130, 131 
Theatres, 112 
Trade schools, 85, 136 
Transit system, 68 
Trinity Church, 36 
Trolley car lines, 42 
Turnpike, Lancaster, 21 

U 
Union League, 121 
United States flag, 22 
University Club, 122 
University Museum, 101 
University of Pennsylvania, 21, 
77-81, 88 

\' 

Valley Forge, 16, 143 
Vaudeville theatres, 113 
Vendig Hotd, 123 
Veterinary Hospital, 87 



154 



INDEX 



W 

Wagner Institute of Science, 106 

Walton Hotel, 123 

Washington, George, 16, 18, 19, 30, 

77 
Washington Monument, 53, 54 
Water front, 24 
Water supply, 63 
Welsh Tract, 6 
West, Benjamin, 39 
West Laurel Hill Cemetery, 125 
Widener art collection, 142 
William Penn Charter School, 6, 34 
Willow Grove Park, 47 
Wilson, Alexander, 24, 39 
Wilstach Gallery. 56, 103, 109, 142 



Windsor Hotel, 123 
Wlssahickon Creek, 50 
Wistar Institute, 80 
Witherspoon Hall, 122 
Woman's Medical College, 89 
Woodlands Cemetery, 125 
Woodside Park, 47 

Y 

Young Men's Christian Association, 
119 

Young Women's Christian Associa- 
tion, 119 

Z 

Zoological Garden, 53 



STREET DIRECTORY 



NORTH 



No. 



1 No. 



1 Market, Filbert, Commerce, 


2800 Somerset. 


Church. 


2900 Cambria. 


100 Arch, Cherry. 


3000 Indiana Ave. 


200 Race. 


3100 Clearfield. 


300 Vine, Wood. 


3200 Allegheny Ave. 


400 Callowhill, Willow, Noble, Ham- 


3300 Westmoreland. 


ilton. 


3400 Ontario. 


500 Buttonwood, Spring Garden. 


3500 Tioga. 


600 Green, Mt. Vernon, Wallace, 


3600 Venango. 


Melon. 


3700 Erie Ave. 


700 Fairmount Ave., Olive. 


3800 Butler. 


800 Brown, Parrish, Ogden. 


3900 Pike. 


900 Poplar, Laurel, George. 


4000 Luzerne. 


1200 Girard Avenue, Stiles. 


4100 Roxborough. 


1300 Thompson, Seybert. 


4200 Juniata. 


1400 Master, Sharswood. 


4300 Bristol. 


1500 Jefferson. 


4400 Cayuga. 


1600 Oxford. 


4500 Wingohocking. 


1700 Columbia Ave. 


4600 Court! and. 


1800 Montgomery Ave. 


4700 Wyoming Ave. 


1900 Berks. 


4800 Louden. 


2000 Norris. 


4900 Rockland. 


2100 Diamond. 


5000 Ruscombe. 


2200 Susquehanna Ave. 


5100 Lindley Ave. 


2300 Dauphin. 


5200 Duncannon Ave 


2400 York. 


5300 Fishers Ave. 


2500 Cumberland. 


5400 Somerville Ave. 


2600 Huntingdon. 


5500 (^arkson Ave. 


2700 Lehigh Ave. 


5600 Olney Ave. 



STREET DIRECTORY 



No. 



SOUTH 

1 No. 



1 Market, Ludlow. ' 


2400 Ritner. 


100 Chestnut, Sansom, Dock. ' 


2500 Porter. 


200 Walnut, Locust. 


2600 Shunk. 


300 Spruce, DeLancey. 


2700 Oregon Ave. 


400 Pine. 


2800 Johnson. 


500 Lombard, 


2900 Bigler. 


600 South. 


3000 Pollock. 


700 Bainbridge, Monroe, Fitzwater. 


3100 Packer. 


800 Catharine. 


3200 Curtin. 


900 Christian. 


3300 Geary. 


1000 C^arpenter. 


3400 Hartranft. 


1100 Washington, Ellsworth. 


3500 Hoyt. 


1200 Federal. 


3600 Pattison. 


1300 Wharton. 


3700 Beaver. 


1400 Reed. 


3800 Hastings. 


1500 Dickinson, Greenwich. 


3900 Stone Ave. 


1600 Tasker. 


4000 Pennypacker Ave 


1700 Morris, Watkins. 


4100 Stuart Ave. 


1800 Moore. Siegel. 


4200 Tener Ave. 


1900 Mifflin. 


4300 Avenue 43rd. 


2000 McKean. 


4400 Avenue 44th. 


2100 Snyder Ave. 


4500 Avenue 45th. 


2200 Jackson. 


Government Ave. 


2300 Wolf.;" 


League Island. 



INDEX TO STREET CAR ROUTES 



Line Route 

Allegheny x\ venue 60 

Baltimore — Subway 34 

Baring — Subway 38 

Bridesburg— 2nd & 3rd 59 

Callowhill & Vine 66 

Catharine & Bainbridge 63 

Chelten Avenue 52 

Chester 76 

Chester Avenue 13 

Chester Avenue — 42nd 82 

Chester Short Line 37 

Columbia— 8th & 9th 51 

Doylestown 22 

Eighth & Ninth 47 

Elmwood Avenue 36 

Erie Avenue 56 

Fairmount — Arch 48 

Federal & Wharton 64 

Fifteenth & Sixteenth 2 

Fifty-Second— Bala 70 

Fifty-Second — Parkside 35 

Fifty-Eighth & Sixtieth 46 

Fox Chase— 4th & 5th 50 

Frankford — Bridesburg 73 

Franlcford— 2nd & 3rd 5 

Frankford— 6th & 7th 4 

Frankford— 12th & 13th 3 

Germantown— 6th & 7th 19 

Germantown Ave. — 10th & 11th.. 23 

Girard Avenue 15 

Glenside 49 

Gray's Ferry 12 

Hatboro 74 

Haverf ord — Subway 30 

Hunting Park— 19th & 20th 33 

Island Road 83 

Jefferson & Master 57 

Kensington— 6th & 7th 26 

Kensington— 12th & 13th 27 

Lancaster — Arch 84 



Line Route 

Lancaster — Subway 10 

Lansdowne 78 

Lehigh Avenue 54 

Lombard & South 40 

Luzerne— 10th & 11th 6 

Manayunk 61 

Market— 63rd 31 

Market— 69th 41 

Media 71 

Middletown 77 

Moores 72 

Morris & Tasker 29 

N orris & Susquehanna 8 

North— 2nd & 3rd 28 

North— 17th & 18th 21 

North— 19th & 20th 16 

Olney Avenue 75 

Olney— 4th & 5th 62 

Overbrook — Arch 44 

Parkside — Green 25 

Passyunk Avenue 81 

Point Breeze 80 

Richmond— 22nd & 23rd 18 

Sixty-Third 69 

Snyder Avenue 79 

South 17th & 18th 32 

South 19th & 20tli 17 

Spring Garden 43 

Strawberry— 4th & 5th 9 

Strawberry— 22nd & 23rd 7 

Thirty-Third & Thirty-Sixth 67 

Torresdale Avenue 58 

Twelfth & Thirteenth 20 

Wayne— 12th & 13th 53 

West Spruce 42 

Woodland — Subway 11 

York & Dauphin 39 

York Road— 4th & 5th 65 

York Road— 10th & 11th 55 

York Road— 15th & 16th 24 



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